Alcator C-Mod at MIT

Last Monday we visited MIT to view the Alcator C-mod, one of only three in the country. Though this one is the smallest, it is funded and used for research by the U.S. Department of Energy.

We learned about a few topics in the presentation, including the design of the Alcator C-mod, which is in part a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped device that contains plasma and particles in a magnetic field so they can be fused together. Without it, it would take 100 million tries until you got one fusion, so the shape allows the particles to continue circulating to increase the change of fusion.

Though the machine cannot yet create energy, the presenters at MIT seemed sure that someday it would. Other disadvantages they mentioned along with it not having any results thus far were cost and finding structural materials that won’t become radioactive. It’s odd to see so much assurance in something that hasn’t brought any real results to date, and I wonder if it will really work, or if someone will create “the next big thing” that will give us a new renewable energy source. From my point of view, it seems a bit like a money pit, but then again I’m not a scientist/researcher at MIT!

It’s nice to see such dedication to a project and it seems like the people we met that are working on it are genuinely interested in trying to make their goal a reality. (You don’t see that every day, that’s for sure.)
Overall, the fieldtrip was pleasant. I would have liked to see the machine in action, (though my childish expectations want to see sparks and laser beams popping out everywhere, I know that’s probably not what it looks like.) I wish I had more of an understanding in the science behind what is going on, but I think they did a pretty good job filling us in to the best of their ability, since most of us aren’t science majors.