[OLPC library] OLPC+Polywell Fusion power+EMS/SCADA = Off grid power for rural areas = Better healthcare

Tue Jan 29 17:54:17 EST 2008

It got away from me. Continuing...

On Jan 29, 2008 2:13 PM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 29, 2008 7:48 AM, Brown, Henry, DoIT <Henry.Brown at state.nm.us> wrote:
>
> > My point is not to use the OLPC to run an actual fusion reactor.
> > Rather to create EMS/SCADA simulations for kids that discuss its use.
>
> I didn't see that in your previous message.

Schoolchildren can investigate claimed tabletop fusion systems. They
cannot scale to produce power, but they are claimed to produce
measurable neutron and gamma ray fluxes.

> > Few US kids ever get any training in Nuclear Physics or electric power.
> > Most research is classified.
>
> Not the parts that matter the most for energy generation.
>
> > Yet their futures may be determined by this technology.
> > I had students on Navajo reservation in US and Peace Corps who still can't
> > take a physics class.
> > Many Navajos live in nuclear tailings:
> > http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-navajo22nov22,0,7024230.story?page=1
> > But they have interest in it. That is why I created simple cartoons for kids
> > to be introduced to it.
> > OLPC should be used to expose students to complex ideas.
>
> Absolutely.
>
> > http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/34906
> > http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/GeneMachine/77493
> >
> > http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/RangerRick/11273
> >
> > With your knowledge could you create a nuclear cartoon for kids?
>
> Not by myself, but I would be delighted to work with others on it. Do
> we have an artist? An actual physicist?
>
> Much of the popular understanding of quantum mechanics and nuclear
> physics is wrong. Like the idea that we can't see any quantum effects (a misunderstanding of the Correspondence Principle, which only applies in mechanics). In fact we see nothing else. ALL visual effects (light sources, colors, reflections, refraction, transparency, diffraction, vision itself...) require QED for any kind of explanation.

The existence of atoms is a quantum effect. Fusion in the sun and
stars is a quantum effect that you can see happening trillions of
miles away. (Quintillions of miles, in the case of the Andromeda
Galaxy, visible without a telescope in dark skies.) Transistors,
lasers, and CCDs, and thus computers, DVD players, and cameras,
operate strictly by quantum mechanics, and so does an ordinary
incandescent light bulb. The food we eat is created using quantum
effects such as photosynthesis, and powers us by quantum effects,
specifically changes in electron orbitals that allow pairs of
electrons to move from one atom to another and change the structure of
molecules.

> > Henry Brown
> > henry.brown at state.nm.us
> > cell 795-3680
> > office 505 827-2509
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >  From: Edward Cherlin [mailto:echerlin at gmail.com]
> > Sent: Mon 1/28/2008 10:27 PM
> > To: Brown, Henry, DoIT
> > Cc: arjunsarwal at gmail.com; library at lists.laptop.org
> > Subject: Re: [OLPC library] OLPC+Polywell Fusion power+EMS/SCADA = Off grid
> > power for rural areas = Better healthcare
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell
> >
> > On Jan 28, 2008 9:59 AM, Brown, Henry, DoIT <Henry.Brown at state.nm.us> wrote:
> >
> > > OLPC + Fusion/electric power + EMS/SCADA = Off grid power for rural areas
> > >
> > > Could OLPC be used to monitor (EMS/SCADA) polywell fusion/electric power
> > > generator for off-grid power?
> >
> > The suggestion is absurd. Why try to save a few hundred or even a few
> > thousand dollars on the computers, particularly when electric power to
> > run the plant's control system will not be a problem at all? Tiny
> > keyboards and tiny screens cannot meet industry operational safety and
> > ergonomic standards.
> >
> > > Small fusion reactor may allow off-grid  electricity - Polywell Fusion
> > > reactor
> >
> > The suggestion is also completely irrelevant. Bussard, the inventor,
> > says, "...it will take 4-6 years and ca. 100-200 M$ to build the
> > full-scale plant and demonstrate it." Assuming full funding, which
> > does not appear likely. This demonstration plant is intended to show
> > net power generation, but not to show power generation at a
> > commercially viable level. It would then take 5-10 years more to
> > design and build production plants, if all went well.
> >
> > Physicists are not at all in agreement about whether this type of
> > reactor can achieve net power. "Controversies exist over whether the
> > ions and electrons will thermalise and whether bremsstrahlung [braking
> > radiation] losses will emit more energy in an unrecoverable form than
> > can be produced by the fusion reaction."
> >
> > It should be noted that, contrary to widespread popular supposition,
> > fusion power is not 100% clean and green, even though it is nowhere
> > near as bad as sulfur and mercury from coal or radioactive waste from
> > fission. Proposed fuels are toxic. Neutrons from the reactions will
> > create radioactivity in the walls of the reactor. There will be
> > short-lived radioactive waste products from the reactions themselves.
> >
> > "Please check your facts before posting nonsense to Usenet."--Beable
> > van Polasm, alt.religion.kibology
> > --
> > Edward Cherlin
> > End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
> > http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
> > "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay
> >
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>
> --
>
> Edward Cherlin
> End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
> http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
> "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay
>

-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay