"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
Looks like someone may be stepping on your energy technology:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10...ag=mncol;posts


I think we are about to witness some revolutionary developments in energy
generation or capture.

Our "plasma" generator is still being investigated. I was about to flush
the idea after having a bunch of analytical work done by a thermodynamics PE
who did some computations and said I couldn't get there from here. But,
then another PhD type friend who specializes in plasma technology and
research told me I was exploring an area in which there is currently a lot
of research and not a whole lot is completely understood. A "plasma" has
been defined and generally accepted in the scientific community as a forth
state of matter.
Unlike some of the big research programs that create plasmas that exceed the
temperature of the sun's surface, there is other investigations going on
(which includes the type of thing I am playing with) that is related to
"low temperature plasma".

Without getting into details, a plasma is created under certain conditions,
it this case due to bombardment by electrons from a power supply which crash
into gas molecules of a partial pressure in a controlled vacuum. Under the
right conditions, either by magnetically trapping the electrons, or simply
by geometrical shape of the plasma containment object, something called an
"electron sheath" develops, and the plasma can become semi self sustaining.
It's not completely self sustaining, otherwise it would be a chain reaction
like fission or fusion and I'd be heading for the hills.

Anyway, there's still work to be done.

Eisboch