For career day, I shadowed a physicist, Mr. Sterling Smith, at his work at General Atomics at Torrey Pines. He has degrees in theoretical and computational physics, but he is currently employed for a team of experimentalists. For the first part of the day, after he explained his work to me, I watched him put the finishing touches on a Powerpoint for a presentation he was scheduled for at a meeting that morning. From this and his areas of skill, I am guessing that his main role on the experimental team is to gather and compile data. I was actually allowed to attend this morning meeting, which was a simple gathering of General Atomics physicists to present the occurrences and findings of the past week. Mr. Smith gave his presentation at that meeting.
Put simply, Mr. Smith's job is on a team working on an experimental fusion reactor, using superheated plasma corralled into a perpetual loop with electromagnetic fields. The plasma actually gets so hot that fusion occurs at its core. The ultimate goal of the project, or so I gather, is to get the fusion reactor to the point where its energy output is greater than the total input; they want to create a generator. At the moment, though, they are trying to solve a problem with ELMs. I do not know what ELM stands for, but it is an event where the plasma flares up at its edge with enough energy to escape its electromagnetic bonds, and it strikes the outer shell of the reactor. In General Atomics' small reactor, with a 2-meter radius, this can cause damage. They need to solve the problem for the ITER; I don't know what that stands for either, but it is another reactor being constructed in France. This will have a 6-meter radius, and an ELM in that would have energy similar to a tank shell hitting the reactor's wall. Currently, they are suppressing the ELMs with additional I- and C-coils, which produce more electromagnetic fields. They are experimenting with the minimum of I- and C-coils necessary.
I think that Mr. Smith's work is quite fascinating; being able to experiment on a fusion reactor would be extremely cool. Mr. Smith is not actually doing the experimenting, though; his work mainly consists of programming. He says that programming is an essential skill for any physics profession, actually. I think that I might have a hard time sitting in an office and programming all day, but I don't know whether I enjoy programming or not, seeing as I've never really learned how. I think that it would be really cool to be on the team experimenting with the reactor, but I don't know how the salary of an experimentalist would compare to Mr. Smith's salary.
Put simply, Mr. Smith's job is on a team working on an experimental fusion reactor, using superheated plasma corralled into a perpetual loop with electromagnetic fields. The plasma actually gets so hot that fusion occurs at its core. The ultimate goal of the project, or so I gather, is to get the fusion reactor to the point where its energy output is greater than the total input; they want to create a generator. At the moment, though, they are trying to solve a problem with ELMs. I do not know what ELM stands for, but it is an event where the plasma flares up at its edge with enough energy to escape its electromagnetic bonds, and it strikes the outer shell of the reactor. In General Atomics' small reactor, with a 2-meter radius, this can cause damage. They need to solve the problem for the ITER; I don't know what that stands for either, but it is another reactor being constructed in France. This will have a 6-meter radius, and an ELM in that would have energy similar to a tank shell hitting the reactor's wall. Currently, they are suppressing the ELMs with additional I- and C-coils, which produce more electromagnetic fields. They are experimenting with the minimum of I- and C-coils necessary.
I think that Mr. Smith's work is quite fascinating; being able to experiment on a fusion reactor would be extremely cool. Mr. Smith is not actually doing the experimenting, though; his work mainly consists of programming. He says that programming is an essential skill for any physics profession, actually. I think that I might have a hard time sitting in an office and programming all day, but I don't know whether I enjoy programming or not, seeing as I've never really learned how. I think that it would be really cool to be on the team experimenting with the reactor, but I don't know how the salary of an experimentalist would compare to Mr. Smith's salary.