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Am I correct in assuming that the fortunes of plasma physics generally have followed the ups and downs of high energy electricity research and that the field is in relative infancy (measured by what we know, not by how long we have been studying it)?
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I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891 -
I'm not really up on the history of plasma physics. As far as I can tell, it is not too popular because it is too hard to understand (see Ramo's equations above).“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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I cross-edited you.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Well, we do know a fair amount. It is hard to judge because we don't know a lot of what we don't know. However, as fusion research has shown, controlling a high energy plasma is pretty much impossible.Originally posted by DanS
I cross-edited you.“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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What's the big hardware for plasma geeks? Accellerators?I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Yes. Tokamaks, helimaks, etc."Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "
-BokononComment
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And what's the big hardware otherwise?I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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I was thinking along the lines of the electric plasma propulsion devices that I asked about a couple of weeks ago to extrapolate to the basic science. As we discussed, there's not much available yet beyond relatively low energy ion thrusters and Hall Effect thrusters. Not a lot of effort went into this kind of research until the late 90s when the Russkis turned over some science to us.Well, we do know a fair amount. It is hard to judge because we don't know a lot of what we don't know. However, as fusion research has shown, controlling a high energy plasma is pretty much impossible.
Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this might not be a valid extrapolation.
(Sorry about the minor threadjack, Ramo.)Last edited by DanS; April 5, 2005, 13:48.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Bump.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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If you assume phase-space incompressibility:
div(v) = d/dv.a = 0
Why do you assume that?Comment
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That's not true. There are full up MPD thrusters (only in lab form), but they could easily be made ship worthy. There is just no money/demand for it at the moment. Despite what we may want, space exploration is just not a big priority. BTW, I am still looking through boxes for my referencesOriginally posted by DanS
I was thinking along the lines of the electric plasma propulsion devices that I asked about a couple of weeks ago to extrapolate to the basic science. As we discussed, there's not much available yet beyond relatively low energy ion thrusters and Hall Effect thrusters. Not a lot of effort went into this kind of research until the late 90s when the Russkis turned over some science to us.
Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this might not be a valid extrapolation.
(Sorry about the minor threadjack, Ramo.)“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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Aren't the Russkis the only ones to actually build MPD thrusters? Not that if its Russian, there's no understanding on this side of the pond, but they had much of this stuff figured out well before the fall of the wall and we're really late to the game.
Russki tests at 500 kW for 500 hours, says this article...
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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light bulbs?Comment
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Light bulbs have already been figured out by the LED guys.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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We built them at MIT when I was a grad student (mini ones). We sure didn't get data from Russia. Russia put more money into it in the Soviet days and so had a larger one, but our computers were better....Originally posted by DanS
Aren't the Russkis the only ones to actually build MPD thrusters? Not that if its Russian, there's no understanding on this side of the pond, but they had much of this stuff figured out well before the fall of the wall.
Russki tests at 500 kW for 500 hours, says this article...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto...namic_thruster“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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