fusor

Tom Ligon's "Analog" Article is Now Available Online

Long time followers of the forums on  this website will recognize the name of Tom Ligon as one of the prime instigators of the whole, world-wide basement/garage (I hate the word "amateur") fusor project.  It all began, really, when Tom -- who has worked with Dr. Robert Bussard -- wrote an article about the fusor for Analog magazine and then took up the topic with our own Richard Hull.

Tom has recently updated that seminal Analog article, "The World's Simplest Fusion Reactor" with a detailed recount of some of Dr. Bussard's contributions to the art as well as a round up of the work that is being done by the contributors to this website.

The article is now available online and can be downloaded as a .pdf file (from Mark Duncan's "askmar.com" website).

"Consider this a beta posting," Tom cautions, "as I have spotted a minor bug in one of the figures, which I will shortly point out to him."

Even with an outstanding correction, this paper is possibly the best single primer on the grassroots fusion movement that you'll find today. 

Thanks, Tom.

--PS
 

Got Fusion?

Here's a colorful primer on that great Nuclear Fusion reactor in the sky:

Life on Earth is absolutely dependent on the Sun. If it suddenly shut down, it would take eight minutes for our world to be plunged into total darkness.

Its energy comes from nuclear fusion taking place deep in its core. Heat and pressure at the center force hydrogen atoms together to make heavier helium. This process releases unimaginable amounts of energy, similar to the explosion of a hydrogen bomb.This energy travels slowly through the Sun's surface (its journey takes over 200,000 years). Here, it escapes into space as heat and light, making life possible here on Earth.