A Physics Hoss

I am linking to a one hour and 35 minute video. It's a huge investment. But I know we have some geeks around here and I encourage each to ignore politicians and pundits and spend some time with a true genius. (Hat-tip: Samizdata. Dale Amon says "For those who have not spent a lifetime watching the world of Physics, Dr. Bussard is one of the elders of the field. He is no outsider and no crank. He is one hell of a serious physics dude."

The talk is all Physics, but quite a bit of politics and economics unwittingly enters.

ABSTRACT This is not your father's fusion reactor! Forget everything you know about conventional thinking on nuclear fusion: high-temperature plasmas, steam turbines, neutron radiation and even nuclear waste are a thing of the past. Goodbye thermonuclear fusion; hello inertial electrostatic confinement fusion (IEC), an old idea that's been made new. While the international community debates the fate of the politically-turmoiled $12 billion ITER (an experimental thermonuclear reactor), simple IEC reactors are being built as high-school science fair projects.

Have fun: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606

Oil and Energy Posted by jk at February 7, 2008 12:11 PM