Solar DIY

[Akyra]

http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/planetsbeyond/makingstars.html

Is this really a good idea? :?

[Trevor]

[Greg]

Wasn't that was on the telly last night..Only caught bits of it.

The Cosmos with that Hart-Davies bloke...Very good.

Don't know what all the fuss is about though we make that stuff all the time in work with a microwave and some tin foil

Ok..Ok...I'll get my own taxi..

[Astroman]

http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/planetsbeyond/makingstars.html

Is this really a good idea? :?

This is a really good idea. The ~50 second video shown has a time stamp on the lower right that shows the duration of the actual "lifetime" of the "star". It's less than 1 second. I'd imagine the amount of mass used is less than a gram. By studying the characteristics of these "stars" on a miniscule scale and studying the amount of magnetism and so on needed to contain them, it gives us a leg up on understanding not only stars but the fusion process itself. Fusion power, as mentioned in the article, could be an energy source of the future.

The second idea linked by Trevor is not such a good one, but we have to live with it now. Can't put the djin back in the bottle...

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I'd hope its a lot less than a gram AM. A whole gram of mass turns into a huge amount of energy and I don't think that they're geared up for turning it into useable power just yet. I need to do some sums, but it sounds like a whole big pile of kWs to convert a gram at first sight.

Free energy would be way cool, especially if we can work out how to use the mass of trash in a E=MC2 way, we'd be set for life.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[beamish]

Didn't they describe it as the Mega Amp !!

Karlo

[Astroman]

Well, according to my calculations, 1 gram of matter converted completely to energy would yield 180,000 kilowatts over a time of 0.5 seconds, which is the time the star lived. yes, that's a lot, but since I was just guessing at the quantity of matter, given the scale needed for such an experiment, it doesn't seem out of line with what may be contained with present technology. Of course, the figure of 180,000 kilowatts would be considerably less, since nothing is ever 100% efficient, (not even fusion reactions), and the amount of matter isn't given.

[AstroTiger]

from the point of view of someone entering into the realms of solar astronomy, i find this interesting.

i wonder how long the entire process takes in real time!

[Astroman]

i wonder how long the entire process takes in real time!

The star lived for 0.5 seconds, according to the time stamp in the video. So, literally the blink of an eye. The output of the Sun is ~1375 Watts per m² per second as measured on Earth. The surface area of one hemisphere of Earth is ~5x10¹⁴m². That's a lot of power, and the output of this star was miniscule by comparison.

[AstroTiger]

it certainly would be.

but at least the experiment would help us to assetain exactly how a star works. modify the standard solar model where appropriate.

much to be learned from this i think!