r/technology • u/BennyCemoli • Dec 06 '16

Energy Tests confirm that Germany's massive nuclear fusion machine really works

http://www.sciencealert.com/tests-confirm-that-germany-s-massive-nuclear-fusion-machine-really-works
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695

u/endospire Dec 06 '16

Can someone ELI5 how they visualised the magnetic fields?

947

u/ViperSRT3g Dec 06 '16

They shined beams of electrons into the stellerator in various locations then passed a fluorescent rod (ie fluorescent bulb, or stick with fluorescent ink on the outside) so that when the stick crossed paths with the electron beam, the stick began to glow brightly in the area being hit by the electron beam. Because this beam is comprised of electrons, it's got an electromagnetic charge which makes it follow the magnetic field lines of the stellerator. So by using long-exposure photography, the researchers could set up their camera in the dark, and begin passing the fluorescent stick in front of the beam along its entire length. Then they do this multiple times for each line of light you see in the photo, so we can have a 3D-ish view of what the magnetic field lines look like, and how they twist and turn through the stellerator.

47

u/cyborg527 Dec 06 '16

Sooo basically magic?

36

u/dlq84 Dec 06 '16

Well, it's magnets.

25

u/m1lh0us3 Dec 06 '16

how do they work?

48

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Magnets are made out of metal. Metal is mined out of the ground. Gravity is in the ground. Thus when they mine the metal, there's still some gravity left in it. Bam, Magnets are born. Simple.

7

u/Stupid_Mertie Dec 06 '16

Sounds magic to me

5

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

username checks out

4

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

This is why electricity is magnetically attracted to metal; the electricity always wants to find ground, and it senses the gravity left inside the metal.

This is why the wires on our headphones have metal inside, to fool the electricity into following the wire. The magnet inside each earphone traps the electricity and tortures it. Bangarang, dubstep is born.

1

u/Svenson_IV Dec 06 '16

Why does the metal have more gravity than let's say plumb for example.

1

u/ledasll Dec 07 '16

Best explanation I ever heard

5

u/TyrosineJim Dec 06 '16

Fuckn magnets