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kinkyATL -> RE: Hadron Collider (9/10/2008 11:02:27 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave
The experiment doesnt get up to full power for about 18 months.
What we are getting now is typical media bullshit.
I am old enough to remember ZETA.
It was going to solve the worlds energy needs by harnessing thermonuclear reactions, ie fusion, in a plasma donut.
One minor problem cropped up.....it didnt work....oops.
The plasma could not be stabilised/contained within the magnetic fields designed to contain it.
I make a prediction and it will save zillions.
Science will NEVER unravel the ultimate mysteries of the origin of the Universe or Life.
What we need is more technologists able to create useful things and fewer dreamy scientists willing to waste billions of dollars/pounds/francs and marks.
Um, ZETA (Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly) was a test facility for creating fusion using an electric current in a plasma to create a magnetic field for confinement. It actually worked very well and similar devices (now commonly referred to as "pinch" devices [and prominently featured in the Ocean's Eleven remake]) are used today at places like Sandia Laboratories. In fact there are a wide variety of devices that create nuclear fusion. The goal that has yet to be realized is a net positive energy fusion device, that is a process that outputs more energy than is input so that fusion can be used to generate power.
I'd say your assertion that your prediction will save zillions is rather poorly supported. Why should we believe you? What evidence do you provide? Is there a test that would falsify your prediction and therefore allow us to perform an experiment to increase our confidence in it?
The idea that technology can move forward without pure science is crazy. The formulas engineers learn at engineering school don't come from nowhere. Science has to be done to know how nature is going to behave so the engineers can reliably design technology. But in the end saying that science for its own sake is worthless is tantamount to saying life is worthless. Do you only exist to do things to perpetuate your own existence? Or do you have some other purpose?
As to wasting money, the LHC's total cost is equal to about a month of the war in Iraq. Which do you think is more likely to have a lasting positive impact on the world? Let us imagine that four hundred years ago Newton had turned away from investigating the totally impractical nature of motion spawned by his interests in planetary motion and done something more practical, where would we be? If Newton had not had his annus mirabilis in 1666 what would the world look like? Of course, far more was spent that year on the Second Anglo-Dutch war... that was a lasting battle for good, right? I mean it had a lot of lasting effects like ... nothing!
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