5 trillion watts.....

[Schrecken_Licht]

Check this one out:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/science_news/4259187.html
http://gizmodo.com/380291/inside-the-largest-laser-and-fusion-chamber-in-the-world

So, in the vid it says "flashlamps" but also "UV" - so, is this thing a monster frequency-tripled YAG or what? If it is, just imagine the brightness of the beam if they only doubled the frequency!!! The whole world would need O.D. 6+ goggles!

 

[FireMyLaser]

God, I hope that thing will work!!! Fusion energy FTW ;D
Thanks for charing, very interesting

 

[xJumper]

Oh yea more nukes, drop one on Wicked Lasers.

 

[Scriabin]

There was several similar project in the past, but they failed because the beams must hit the target at the same time, energy, and geometrical position. Only in this way the plasma created can be confined and compressed in the right way.

 

[VillageIdiot]

So.. where do I buy one? I'll dare my friend to put his hand in front of the beam.

 

[Dingers]

The blasted target generates 500 trillion watts—1000 times the electrical generating capacity of the United States.

I see...

So that's 500,000,000,000,000 W
or 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 mW

The stadium-size building houses 192 lasers, each producing a 16-in.-wide beam. In less than 1 second, the beams are amplified 3 quadrillion times and then simultaneously focused on a hydrogen-filled ball the size of a BB.

Uh.. quadrillion times and simultaneously focused on a ball the size of a BB.

The conversion of matter to energy is recorded by multispectrum sensors, including an X-ray camera that takes pictures at 1 billion frames per second.

Right...
A camera that captures at 1,000,000,000 fps.

Holy.
Crap.

 

[nikokapo]

where do they get the money for that!!! CERN?

 

[likewhat]

where do they get the money for that!!! CERN?

NNSA

 

[Glaserfan]

Here's what I don't see... Even from a capsule the size of a BB.. how in the hell are they going to contain the energy produced? Yea, the energy they use to start the reaction is focused, but if this is going to produce WAYYY more energy than that, how do they contain that energy? Sounds to me like a possible recipe for disaster. Now if they could put the created energy to use, hey that'd be great.. BUT.........................

 

[likewhat]

Most of the energy from a fusion reaction with D-T comes out in the form of high energy neutrons. You just let them do whatever they want and get captured by whatever atoms you have around you experiment and then wait a few hours for the radioactivity to go away.

The energy released should only be about 100 MJ which is roughly the energy contained in 1 gallon of gasoline, so it isnt like a nuclear bomb exploding.


Also, since the total amount of stored energy they have at NIF is 400 MJ that they dump into their main amplifiers they lose pretty bad on total efficiency.

 

[Dr_Evil]

Quite interesting I must say. I foresee a blackout for NA sometime in 2010.

 

[danq]

The blasted target generates 500 trillion watts—1000 times the electrical generating capacity of the United States.

Holy.
Crap.

actually that's only 500 times the electrical generating capacity of the United States

which makes it waaaaay less impressive :

[is that thing supposed to look like a giant mechanical pencil?!?]

DanQ

 

[danq]

Quite interesting I must say. I foresee a blackout for NA sometime in 2010.

it's amazing what you can store in a big enough capacitor bank! might take more than a few minutes to charge up though... maybe they'll do it at local moon-noon.

 

[Spyderz20x6]

Yes! The plans for Zshon-Wang's Galactic Empire to invade earth are going well... muahahahahhahahahahaha, what you earthlings don't know is that this will create a portal, and Zshon-Wang's wrath will come upon you!