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Environment & Energy

OKIsItJustMe

(22,464 posts)

19. Multiple methods are used to initially heat the plasma

Reply to lonely bird (Reply #17)

Tue Mar 17, 2026, 05:01 PM

Mar 2026

However, one way is using the magnets themselves. The magnets apply pressure to the plasma. If you remember the “ideal gas law" if you pressurize a gas, it heats up. If you’ve ever pumped up a bicycle tire with a hand pump, you may have noticed the pump heats up a bit as the pressure gets higher.

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How U.S. states can attract fusion power plants: A new CFS white paper [View all] OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 OP

Coming soon - "How US States Can Attract Herds Of Unicorns" hatrack Mar 2026 #1

This is not some start-up run by dreamers OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #3

Right. I would have said to the naysayer "Can't we have a little optimism?" FadedMullet Mar 2026 #4

Well, as optimistic as I am that we will have commercial fusion soon... OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #6

Given our new reality of server "farms" popping up everywhere, you're probably right. FadedMullet Mar 2026 #7

So, imagine we can snap our fingers and tomorrow have a fusion-powered grid OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #8

Jeez, where does the other half come from? I know it's not cow farts. FadedMullet Mar 2026 #18

Well, actually, some does come from methane from cows, although they generally belch it out OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #20

This is a press release, not proof of concept or a peer-reviewed scientific paper . . . hatrack Mar 2026 #11

One of these fusion startups is in WA thought crime Mar 2026 #21

It's the 75th anniversary of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. NNadir Mar 2026 #12

And Edison made a coal burning plant in 1844 OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #15

Really? Edison ran a coal plant in 1844, three years before his birth? NNadir Mar 2026 #16

A Star in a Bottle: The Quest for Commercial Fusion OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #5

Energy as limitless abundance will outpace all other inputs bucolic_frolic Mar 2026 #2

Hmmm lonely bird Mar 2026 #9

The direct product of the fusion reaction is heat OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #10

Sure lonely bird Mar 2026 #13

The great breakthrough of this design OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #14

How are they generating the hot plasma? lonely bird Mar 2026 #17

Multiple methods are used to initially heat the plasma OKIsItJustMe Mar 2026 #19