Is it possible to build a real arc reactor

The reactor, which would generate enough energy to power some , homes, would be relatively compact at half the size of ITER. It would have the added benefit of having a module core, making it much easier to both service and experiment with.

The reactor design would also be simplified through the use of a liquid a fluorine lithium beryllium molten salt as a shielding material, a neutron moderator, and a heat exchange medium. The liquid coats the reactor, gets heated by the fusion going on inside, and then is fed through a high-efficiency Brayton cycle engine to generate electricity. The ARC reactor is based almost entirely on existing, proven technology, and MIT says that devices of a similar complexity and size have been built within about five years.

For all we know, that fraction is nine-tenths, but the implication is that the ARC reactor would be substantially cheaper, largely due to its smaller size. If it is, we could see a completed one up and running in as little as a decade. Smart image analysis algorithms, fed by cameras carried by drones and ground vehicles, can help power companies prevent forest fires. The fire is the second-largest in California history. The fire season in the United States was the worst in at least 70 years, with some 4 million hectares burned on the west coast alone.

And this was on top of a fire season that burned more than , hectares of land in California, and a to wildfire season in Australia that torched nearly 18 million hectares. While some of these fires started from human carelessness—or arson—far too many were sparked and spread by the electrical power infrastructure and power lines.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Cal Fire calculates that nearly , burned hectares of those California fires were the fault of the electric power infrastructure, including the devastating Camp Fire , which wiped out most of the town of Paradise.

Until these recent disasters, most people, even those living in vulnerable areas, didn't give much thought to the fire risk from the electrical infrastructure. Power companies trim trees and inspect lines on a regular—if not particularly frequent—basis. However, the frequency of these inspections has changed little over the years, even though climate change is causing drier and hotter weather conditions that lead up to more intense wildfires.

In addition, many key electrical components are beyond their shelf lives, including insulators, transformers, arrestors, and splices that are more than 40 years old. Many transmission towers, most built for a year lifespan, are entering their final decade. Historically, checking the condition of electrical infrastructure has been the responsibility of men walking the line.

When they're lucky and there's an access road, line workers use bucket trucks. But when electrical structures are in a backyard easement, on the side of a mountain, or otherwise out of reach for a mechanical lift, line workers still must belt-up their tools and start climbing.

In remote areas, helicopters carry inspectors with cameras with optical zooms that let them inspect power lines from a distance. These long-range inspections can cover more ground but can't really replace a closer look.

Recently, power utilities have started using drones to capture more information more frequently about their power lines and infrastructure. In addition to zoom lenses, some are adding thermal sensors and lidar onto the drones. Thermal sensors pick up excess heat from electrical components like insulators, conductors, and transformers. If ignored, these electrical components can spark or, even worse, explode. Lidar can help with vegetation management, scanning the area around a line and gathering data that software later uses to create a 3-D model of the area.

The model allows power system managers to determine the exact distance of vegetation from power lines. That's important because when tree branches come too close to power lines they can cause shorting or catch a spark from other malfunctioning electrical components. The ejection of electrons from the core towards the rim of the device produces an electrical cell capable of generating enormous voltage and current. I can't speak for the next-gen "new element" arc reactor, but presumably, it replaces the palladium isotopes with a hypothetical element that also undergoes gamma-ray-mediated beta decay, but in a less-toxic and higher-output fashion.

First, the reactor's glow :. It could be caused by the ionization arc, but I think Cherenkov radiation is a much better explanation. This is a special type of light emission that occurs when an energetic particle such as electron enters a medium like water or air at a speed faster than the speed of light in that medium.

The high-energy electron flux within the arc reactor would be a natural fit to generate this effect. This is a picture of an actual nuclear reactor producing Cherenkov radiation:. Notice the similarities?

Unlike electrical arcs, the light from Cherenkov radiation is quiet, cool-blue, and fricken' awesome. This is a no-brainer -- the arc reactor's glow is definitely being produced by high-energy electron flux. Another aspect of the original model palladium arc reactor was poisoning due to "palladium toxicity.

I have a theory that fits the symptoms better. Remember, the proposed palladium decay reactions produce rhodium and silver. Excess internal silver is known to stain skin blue:. Rhodium compounds also stain skin, and are highly toxic. Chemical properties, Health and Environmental effects In fact, because most people have essentially zero exposure to rhodium, the toxicity of rhodium is very poorly-understood.

This perfectly explains why Tony didn't seek help from the medical establishment for his accumulated heavy metal toxicity -- because he knew the doctors wouldn't know how to deal with rhodium poisoning.

Tony Stark didn't have simple palladium poisoning, he had "palladium decay-product" poisoning! So you see, everything fits together perfectly.

I will start working on my own arc reactor prototype and will post updates when I produce a working replica. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. You may unsubscribe at any time. By Trevor English. What is Iron Man's reactor? Follow Us on. Sponsored Stories.

Matthew S. John Loeffler. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies. Blue is more distinct, so I felt making the Arc Reactor glow blue would be a good path to take. They are 5mm through hole LEDs. I measured the circumference of the inner part of the Outer Ring, divided it by 20, and thus had the spacing to evenly space each LED. After all the LEDs were glued in place, I added a few more layers of glue to diffuse the light some.

Now, some basic LED math: LEDs have a positive wire called the anode, which is longer and a negative wire called a cathode, which is shorter. Without going into too much detail on why, let's just say I decided that in the end, all of the LED's would be wired in parallel, so all of the positives and all of the negatives connected together.

For my tests, I used a power supply that provided 5 volts. As you will see in the pictures, my initial tests were with one LED you will see two; I actually implemented the 'one LED' setup twice per test. So if you want to light one LED, you must connect it to a power source via a ohm resistor. I did this by using a pair of pliers to bend the wire of one LED to the next, solder the connection, and repeat for the whole ring. I then lit the whole thing up.

This test looked mostly good, although some of the LEDs didn't diffuse well. This is because my gluing was not completely even, and I fix that in the next step. This step will complete the Outer Ring of the Arc Reactor. Based on your personal preference, you could even skip the latter part of this step.

The light was not diffusing well enough yet these LEDs are very bright! After molding, I cut off the excess foil. From here, the Outer Ring takes on its final shape. Also, if you're soldering job wasn't that great, adding hot glue will ensure that the connection stays secure electrically. Next is to make it look like there are electromagnetic coils overlapping the ring.

I first cut out lengths of paper that I taped to the ring, and tested lighting the ring to be sure of what it would look like.

Once I liked how things were spaced out, I removed each piece of paper and wrapped electrical tape. The tape will completely block the light, and will also act as a guide for the last part of this step.

Electrical tape is wider than I liked, so I would lay out a piece, cut it with an exacto knife, and then tape it to the ring. At this point, you're at a crossroads. If all you want to do is place the Arc Reactor under clothing, you can take the extra LEDs you've got, place them in the center, put on a shirt and you're done.

However, I wanted to show off the reactor without covering it up, which meant winding the coils and adding an Inner Ring. The coils are part of the Outer Ring, so I've included them in this step. It's really quite simple, although tedious; I used 28 gauge copper magnet wire which would be used in real electromagnetic coils of this size , which I meticulously wound over every piece of tape. The electrical tape can act as your guide, and it has the extra benefit of not letting any light through if your winding work like mine is less than perfect.

Numerous times, I did not prepare the right length of wire, so I hot glued the back end of the ring to hold everything together. The back isn't pretty, but the front looks really nice. If you were really picky, you could have prepared the correct lengths of cable and made real electromagnetic coils with this step.

That's for you perfectionists out there ;-. Okay, so if you plan on continuing this project, you will need an Inner Ring assembly. This part looks more complex, but we'll fake it pretty well ;- It looks as though the Inner Ring is made up of a metal bracket, which is held in place with three allen bolts.

It's hard to see in the pictures on here, but underneath that bracket appears to be more coils that are floating as opposed to being wrapped around something , a few smaller metal rings, some kind of wire mesh and finally more glowing light.

Start with the metal bracket.