Research

The amount of info that we are sifting through is almost too much to comprehend all at once. It's getting hard to know what to look for or to come up with an understanding of something so I think I'm just going to focus on looking at specific designs for fusors and how they each work individualy and then delve deeper into the processes it undergoes. This worked pretty well for me this week. I looked at one design and was surprised to learn about the radioactivity of it. Nothing severe just something that if we use our fusor alot it will change the structures of the metal and cause radioactivity. I'm not too worried about this. I talked it over with Jeff and discovered that it's really a low level and we are going to see exactly how much it takes before it becomes radioactive before we build it. I'm kind of looking forward to that part now.
-Devon

hello again

I know it has been a while since I visited, but I did actually learn a few things since the last time. I was amazed this week to learn about the critical mass. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to try and put all of this together without ever doing it before. If you are just a little over in the mass, you have just created a bomb. And no one wants that. If you are just a little under, then nothing will happen. I can't help but think that if nothing happened I would freak out thinking I did everything wrong, but I could have just been off on the mass a little.
Something else I learned was that there really is a difference between a fusor and a fusion reactor. Good to know!
Danielle

fusion, fusor

One of the most interesting things I learned this week is that there is a difference between a fusor and fusion reactor. I had thought they were one and the same, but after talking with Jeff yesterday I discovered that they are actually two different things. A fusion reactor is on the scale of ITER and takes alot of energy to run where as a fusor isn't as large. This has made my research since then so much easier. Hopefully by next week I will have a more complete understanding of what is going on.
-Devon

Getting Started

After a few weeks of this project, I have to say that knowing where to start is slightly difficult. There’s a huge amount of information online about fusors. Tabletop fusors are little simpler than I was expecting, but going from knowing nothing to having the ability to build one still won’t be easy. Any suggestions on possible sources for or how to would be greatly appreciated.
-Sarah

Electronics Possibly for Aaron

Talking with Jeff a couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that one of the IT instructors upstairs might have some hardware that can be used for the fusion reactor when the time for construction begins. I just recently acquired the equipment to see if it will be of any use for the reactor. I will do some research on what the device does, and start doing some research on what is required for the reactor. If it can be used, the instructor is willing to help me implement the equipment on the reactor when the time comes.

Potential Website

Now that our Physics instructor recently turned to webassign for our calc based physics, the development of a grading program is no longer required. At our last meeting there seemed to be a need to have a forum, and though there is some places to setup forums, I am going to talk with my Computer Science adviser about developing a site for the project. This site will be developed for collaboration between the students. We will be able to keep track of all the links for research, have forum discussions and post blogs. For more information at our next meeting I would like to get more ideas of what we would like on the site. I think that this can be an informative site as well as a collaboration site. Being able for the students of this project to not only share information. It can be used to inform the community about the research that is being conducted. If there is any other ideas that can come along with this I would appreciate your input. Monday I will be talking with my Adviser about this website. I will report anything that will be in regards to the site on Saturday.

Hello

Hello, my name is Chad Elofson and my involvement with the project will be related more towards my degree in computers science. I am hoping to get a better understanding of nuclear energy along with fusion reactions. In the development of the reactor, I hope to gain some experience in the computer science portion, by helping out with developing the console. It is possible there will be some programming involved to control the reactor and I am excited to get some real experience in the development of this reactor.