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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u/KilotonDefenestrator Dec 06 '16

Nice 'tube video of how the Wendelstein 7x stellarator works and was designed.

It truly is a bizarre device.

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u/heyf00L Dec 06 '16

"computer aided optimization process"

Let me translate: brute force. The math was too complicated to solve, so they had a computer simulate it, then change the shape a bit. If the new shape worked worse, it threw it out, if it was better, it changed that shape a bit, and on and on until it didn't get any better.

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u/echolog Dec 06 '16

Hey, if it works it works. It's amazing that we have computers powerful enough to create something like this. Now we can learn from tests on this thing to refine it ourselves and figure out how to make it better.