• Ghostalmedia@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Why do people keep saying the NIF experiment was a net gain? People focus on the laser input at the end of the line, which was 20MJ and produced 25MJ. But the input power to charge the capacitors was 422MJ.

    The whole experiment produced 5% of what was put in.

    • zephyreks
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      In theory, the charging cost only needs to be spent on ignition.