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Comment on France runs fusion reactor for record 22 minutes

The amusing thing is that the sun is actually quite a shit fusion reactor. It’s power per unit volume is tiny. It just makes it up in sheer volume. A solar level fusion reactor would be almost completely useless to us. Instead we need to go far beyond the sun’s output to just be viable.

It’s like describing one of the mega mining dumper trucks as an “artificial mule”.

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notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I think this energy density math really depends on whether only the core or the whole surface area is taken into consideration.

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- cynar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Even the core only has an output of 200-300W/m^3.
  
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  - logi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    That’s about the energy output per volume of a 70 year old cyclist.
    
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    DemBoSain@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Right, for the Americans here that hate metric.
    
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lurklurk@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Arguably, the nearby sun scale fusion reactor has been fairly useful for us. Nowadays we can convert its output directly into electricity using solar cells

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- cynar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I never said it wasn’t useful, just a very low efficiency reactor. Then again, if it was better, it would burn out faster, which would be bad for life on earth.
  
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  - Womble@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    It produces about the same power per cubic metre as compost does, which is pretty crazy when you think about it.
    
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  - _stranger_@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    What I’m hearing is that we should mine the sun and make better use of all that fuel.
    
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    WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Just make sure you do it at night.
    
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    cynar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    That’s part of the reason a moon base could be viable. The sun outputs a reasonable amount of helium 3, which is great for fusion reactions. Unfortunately it tends to sit at the top of our atmosphere and get blown away again. On the moon, it gets captured by the dust in collectable quantities.
    
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DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Someone once told me a sun is just a fusion nuclear pile reactor and… Like… I guess.

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merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Sure, but it makes up for that by having an idiot proof design.

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