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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Farnsworth Fusor


This a photograph of a Farnsworth Fusor that I took a few years ago at Utah State University. The machine was built by a high school student who later enrolled at Utah State. It is an actual working fusion machine. It also has a neutron detector to prove that it is fusing deuterium atoms.

I took my kids to go see it. They were probably bored, but I found it interesting. Of course, the only problem with the Farnsworth Fusor is that it can never reach breakeven. This means that it will never produce as much energy as it uses to create the fusion. However, it is a really cool machine and rather simple machine, especially compared with a Tokamak. The characteristic "bugle" caused by the plasma inside the machine can be seen in the video camera screen in the center of the photo.

The giant stack of CDs is part of the neutron detector. They reduce the velocity of the neutrons and allow them to be detected in the central pipe device. The other equipment is a vacuum pump and a high-voltage DC power supply.

I can't remember the name of the student who built this, but I would like to track him down and see what has become of the machine.

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