/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.14583729]

What big scientific breakthrough is near and what will it's effect be on humanity?

[Anonymous No.14583761]

science is about to discover yet another important reason why scientists need you to give them all your money for free again and get nothing in return for it again.
the effect will be ever increasing poverty for most people and a continued decline into degeneracy and irrationality for society at large, however university and government charlatans will continue to be insulated from that since they are the ones thieving everyone else's resources and causing the poverty.

[Anonymous No.14583777]

>>14583729

Energy too cheap to meter in the form of Nuclear Fusion.

[Anonymous No.14583788]

No joke
The <5 nanometer transistors can be achieved in less than 50 years
Our current transistors is at 20-10 nm

<5nm transistors are the ultimate physical limit of silicon-based computing and achieving it would cause shockwaves in our society. Shockwaves in the form of completely and utter technological stagnation as there is nothing more to achieve.

Nothing, nada. We would suffer the same stagnation as the industrial era

Only way out is if people found a way to make computers that do no use silicon. Probably quantum or semi-biological by utilizing biochemistry from artificial brains

>>14583777
Lmao no
Not in 200 years

[Anonymous No.14583794]

>>14583729
Deep learning is the next big thing.

[Anonymous No.14583817]

>>14583761
>Big Oil/Pharma/Tech/Private-Ed's paid scientists & politicians are about to discover yet another important reason why their patron's proxy entities need you to give them all your money for free again and get nothing in return for it again.
>the effect will be accelerating the already rising poverty for most people and a continued decline into distrust, decoheasion and irrationality for society at large, however the Big Oil/Pharma/Tech/Private-Ed charlatans will continue to be insulated from that since they are the ones thieving everyone else's resources and causing the poverty.
IFTFY

>Verification not required

[Anonymous No.14583819]

>>14583788
>Some animefag is concerned about small transistors.
Yawn. Projecting his small penis on everything he sees?
Also applies to the CSlet below him.

[Anonymous No.14583822]

Self-replicating robots.

[Anonymous No.14583829]

>>14583788
Does fusion require super conductors, why are superconductors so hard to make and maintain? Lots of continous energy required, is there no trick? Making a fusion reactor in outer space? And a mom Dyson sphere around it, basically making a mini contained sun in space, but at that point why not just get a bunch of solar panels in space to get closer access to the sun's energy waves produced by its fusion?

[Anonymous No.14583850]

>>14583829

So far they haven't figure out a way to break even the energy production vs consumption. We actually know of one type that would 100% work:

>Open an enormous underground cave.
>Put a turbine in it
>Drop a Nuke
>...
>Profit.

[Anonymous No.14583867]

>>14583829
Dysonspheres are a hilarious idea once you made research on radiation

Nuclear Fusion does not just produce light
It produces alpha, beta, gamma, and free neutrons

The free neutrons are the single most destructive type as it can "activate" the atom and make the isotope radioactive. And guess what? The 2H and 3H fusion are the single biggest emitters of free neutrons around

Dysonspheres which are nothing but solar panels would be completely and utterly destroyed by radiation

What you need is something called Nuclear Battery that is capable of using all 4 types of radiation.
So far, our nuclear batteries uses only Beta and it is used on pacemakers and satelites and rovers like the Horizon and Curiosity

[Anonymous No.14583887]

>>14583829

Fusion works on the principle that energy can be released by forcing together atomic nuclei rather than by splitting them, as in the case of the fission reactions that drive existing nuclear power stations.

The amount of energy produced from fusion is very large — four times as much as nuclear fission reactions — and fusion reactions can be the basis of future fusion power reactors. Plans call for first-generation fusion reactors to use a mixture of deuterium and tritium — heavy types of hydrogen. In theory, with just a few grams of these reactants, it is possible to produce a terajoule of energy, which is approximately the energy one person in a developed country needs over sixty years.

While the sun’s massive gravitational force naturally induces fusion, without that force a higher temperature is needed for the reaction to take place. On earth, we need temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius and intense pressure to make deuterium and tritium fuse, and sufficient confinement to hold the plasma and maintain the fusion reaction long enough for a net power gain, i.e. the ratio of the fusion power produced to the power used to heat the plasma.

No materials exist that can withstand direct contact with such heat. So, to achieve fusion in a lab, scientists have devised a solution in which a super-heated gas, or plasma, is held inside a doughnut-shaped magnetic field. There won't be compact ones. Any working fusion reactor is going to be HUGE.

While conditions that are very close to those required in a fusion reactor are now routinely achieved in experiments, improved confinement properties and stability of the plasma are needed. Scientists and engineers from all over the world continue to test new materials and design new technologies to achieve fusion energy.

[Anonymous No.14583929]

>>14583829

Fusion is the act of two atomic nucleus crashing with each other and fusing becoming a heavier element. Fusion need huge amounts of energies so that the nucleus of different atoms can crash against each other. However, all nucleus have positively charged so they strongly repeal each other out. So, you need a lot of energy to beat the naturally repelling forces. Once they are close enough, the strong nuclear force (which holds the nucleus together and is stronger than electromagnetism but has a very short range) quicks in and both nucleus crash with one.

To do that, you have to achieve very high temperatures so the atoms are so excited the electrons fly off their atoms, transitioning to plasma, and the nucleus have a lot of kinetic energy. At the same time, you need the collisions to be likely to happen so you need to confine them.

You can achieve different kinds of fusion reactions, depending on the isotopes you are using, each one with different energy requirements. The easiest one is with Tritium and Deuterium, to isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium can be extracted inexpensively from seawater, and tritium can potentially be produced from the reaction of fusion generated neutrons with naturally abundant lithium.

[Anonymous No.14583941]

>>14583729
AI

[Anonymous No.14583956]

>>14583829

We need to produce energies 10 times hotter than the core of the Sun because we cannot compact the material in the same way that the Sun does (gravity). We routinely do that, but so far is not self-sustaining.

[Anonymous No.14583963]

>>14583887
Mastering magnetism seems pretty much like the key to the next major evolution of technology. Most relatively fast interstellar engines rely heavily on it as well, both to ensure reactions happen consistently without damaging container walls, that volatile radioactive byproducts go the right way, and so giant explosions don't incinerate the entire ship immediately

What is essentially not here yet seems to be a way to replicate gravity's power at will without making an earth-sized ball of dense rock

[Anonymous No.14583969]

>>14583817
trigger'd massively