I have a hack project like this going in my garage.
I'm trying to build a resonant tuned polywell device. The tldr is polywell + tesla coil power source + microwave oven = fusion? I have no idea if it will work but is something I wanted to try.
The original polywell is a steady state device, where this is meant to create a dynamic system in tune with the power source.
> I'm trying to build a resonant tuned polywell device. The tldr is polywell + tesla coil power source + microwave oven = fusion? I have no idea if it will work but is something I wanted to try.
I hope you thought about all the consequences this may have. See Primer.[1]
I'm interested in why you would want to try a resonant Polywell. Are you willing to share your thoughts on why you'd want to go that route? Regardless of whether you want to discuss it, good luck with your project.
It's a combination of ideas. I liked the idea of the polywell, but there was another project that also peaked my interest, plasma focus. One of the researchers described why their idea was better than the others, and it was quite convincing. Plasma is a dynamic system and their design works with the plasma dynamics instead of against it. This led me to the idea of a dynamic polywell, where the negative potential in the center could be tuned to oscillate. Maybe there is a sweet spot or harmonic that will cause fusion.
I have no idea if it will work, but is an interesting project and something attainable in the garage. If nothing else hopefully it will at least be a fancy plasma ball lamp.
I definitely encourage you to try out your ideas. I'm a software engineer by day myself and dropped out of college. It seems like a crazy idea to me but, why not? I try to not live with regrets. I think that when I'm on my death bed, I would regret never trying my ideas out.
Not the above poster, but typically people will test first with hydrogen to make sure they have good plasma characteristics and containment, then switch to deuterium and use a neutron counter to measure the 2.45 MeV neutrons that come off of the D + D -> n + He3 branch reaction.
A Geiger counter is a good idea, though. Many people don't know until they work with it that high voltages (above 30 kV or so) will cause a fair amount of X-rays from stray electrons being accelerated. So, even when you aren't actually doing fusion, just having a device turned on will cause some X-rays, and its helpful to know that your dose rate is low enough to be safe. There are some failure modes that can cause large amounts of X-rays and you'd want to be aware if that was going on.
I haven't gotten that far but this is correct. Most people in the fusor community fuse deuterium and use a neutron detector to prove fusion is happening.
Aye, you can also get additional proof by placing different thicknesses of attenuators (parrafin wax works well for this) between your neutron counter and the fusion device to demonstrate that the energy of the neutrons is commensurate with the energy from a D+D reaction.
Borax is cheap and helpful for shielding if you start getting more neutrons than is comfortable. Neutrons are a serious radiation hazard but most fusors would be happy to get into the dangerous range.
I'm trying to build a resonant tuned polywell device. The tldr is polywell + tesla coil power source + microwave oven = fusion? I have no idea if it will work but is something I wanted to try.
The original polywell is a steady state device, where this is meant to create a dynamic system in tune with the power source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3BPtWiGxd3c/Vj7ecWEoXuI/AAAAAAAAGc...