Fusion Containment for the Hobbyist

2022​​

Limitless clean power from nuclear fusion has been a dream for decades. One hard problem involves containing a reaction going on at millions of degrees. The hot fusion plasma is an incredible escape artist, containing it is like trying to squeeze a big lump of Jello between two hands without it squirting out.

Lots of smart, well-funded scientists are hard at work on the issue. Perhaps it’s time for hobbyists to give it a go. No shortage of original ideas there! Who wouldn’t want to be the first of his or her friends to generate a few cheap megawatts in the basement? What could possibly go wrong?

 

This sculpture represents a hobbyist’s fusion reaction being contained by shifting magnetic fields. Despite everything shifting around it, the Jasper plasma sphere rotates but somehow stays in one place. Success!

The piece exploits geometry to contain the sphere in place. The sphere’s supports are interconnected and rotate around each other. However, the rotational axis of every support points directly through the sphere’s center. Without radial displacement on any axis, the sphere is contained at one point in space.

 

The international search for a reliable containment method goes on. The planet could use it soon!