Death Star (Laser Beams)

[DeathCell]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8044620.stm Sounds really interesting to me! New elements eh?

[ExoByte]

Cool.

[Invader]

The intense energy creates temperatures of 100 million degrees and pressures billions of times greater than Earth's atmospheric pressure, forcing the hydrogen nuclei to fuse and a colossal amount of energy to be released. I wonder how it's going to release a lot of that energy. One dollar says that, assuming the facility is successful with creating the fusion reaction, there will be a 400 yard crater in it's place shortly afterwards. Creating a miniature star ON our planet always seemed like a smart idea to me.

[ExoByte]

They really should Dr. Ocktopus how that worked out for him.

[Xei]

It's beyond interesting... the future of humanity truly hinges on experiments such as these. Where did you read about new elements forming though? That's really not possible. I wonder how it's going to release a lot of that energy. One dollar says that, assuming the facility is successful with creating the fusion reaction, there will be a 400 yard crater in it's place shortly afterwards. Creating a miniature star ON our planet always seemed like a smart idea to me. Congratulations on outsmarting hundreds of physics PhDs. Perhaps you should write to them, I'm sure they hadn't considered that containing a H-bomb could be a potential issue.

[ClouD]

Very interesting read. Congratulations on outsmarting hundreds of physics PhDs. Perhaps you should write to them, I'm sure they hadn't considered that containing a H-bomb could be a potential issue. Lulz

[Invader]

I'm sure they hadn't considered that containing a H-bomb could be a potential issue. They did consider it, when they decided that thermo-nuclear reactions made the most effective mass destruction weapon humanity now possesses. lulz, indeed.

[Licity]

They did consider it, when they decided that thermo-nuclear reactions made the most effective mass destruction weapon humanity now possesses. lulz, indeed. Nukes were last used in 1946. I think 63 years of study is enough to learn to contain the reaction properly.

[Invader]

The typical nukes we're familiar with utilize fission reactions for the whole of their destructive power, Licity. A thermonuclear weapon, on the other hand, is fusion based. The mechanics of these reactions are not the same, and require different strategies for containment.

[DeathCell]

It's beyond interesting... the future of humanity truly hinges on experiments such as these. Where did you read about new elements forming though? That's really not possible. Congratulations on outsmarting hundreds of physics PhDs. Perhaps you should write to them, I'm sure they hadn't considered that containing a H-bomb could be a potential issue. At these crushing pressures, he said, the conventional understanding of chemistry and the behaviour of materials is turned on its head. "The periodic table that we learn about when we first start chemistry is fundamentally altered at pressures of a million atmospheres," he said. "By a billion atmospheres, we expect even more dramatic changes." Not really new.. undiscovered.

[Xei]

He never really mentions new elements though. The periodic table also indicates the patterns in which elements react. However in fusion the material is a plasma, which means that all of the electrons (which are solely responsible for the whole of chemistry) have so much energy that they leave their respective nuclei and the word chemistry won't even apply... I have no idrea what he's talking about to be honest. But new elements won't form. They did consider it, when they decided that thermo-nuclear reactions made the most effective mass destruction weapon humanity now possesses. I really don't see what point you're trying to make. Nukes were last used in 1946. I think 63 years of study is enough to learn to contain the reaction properly. That's not really true to be honest, H-bomb tests carried on well into the Cold War. But it's a totally different thing, anyway. H-Bombs were built to spread the energy out, wheras fusion reactors are built to contain it.

[DeathCell]

However in fusion the material is a plasma, which means that all of the electrons (which are solely responsible for the whole of chemistry) have so much energy that they leave their respective nuclei and the word chemistry won't even apply... I have no idrea what he's talking about to be honest. But new elements won't form. Something past chemistry -.-.... Interesting.

[Lord Bennington]

Something past chemistry -.-.... Interesting. Hardly. The chemistry the average person is used to seeing applies at or around STP. This situation is clearly not at STP. EDIT: What dreadful phrasing on my part. What I mean is that it's hardly "past chemistry". It's fairly interesting, however.

[DeathCell]

It's gotta be something god damnit!

[Photolysis]

Yes: nuclear physics. Some interesting chemistry might occur as it cools down though, given the unusual conditions.