Get the latest tech news

Mayonnaise Could Help Improve Fusion Energy Yields


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Inertial confinement fusion is one method for generating energy through nuclear fusion, albeit one plagued by all manner of scientific challenges (although progress is being made). Researchers at LeHigh University are attempting to overcome one...

The work builds on prior research in the LeHigh laboratory of mechanical engineer Arindam Banerjee, who focuses on investigating the dynamics of fluids and other materials in response to extremely high acceleration and centrifugal force. The problem is that hydrodynamic instabilities tend to form in the plasma state -- Banerjee likens it to "two materials [that] penetrate one another like fingers" in the presence of gravity or any accelerating field -- which in turn reduces energy yields. In 2019, Banerjee's team conducted experiments that "involved pouring Hellman's Real Mayonnaise [...] into a Plexiglass container and then creating wavelike perturbations in the mayo," writes Ars' Jennifer Ouellette.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Slashdot

Read more on:

Photo of mayonnaise

mayonnaise

Photo of fusion energy yields

fusion energy yields

Related news:

News photo

Sandwich to star power: Mayonnaise may unlock ‘never unstable’ nuclear fusion | Although mayonnaise typically behaves as a solid, when subjected to a pressure gradient, it begins to flow in a manner similar to plasma under comparable conditions.

News photo

Stardew Valley will soon let players drink mayonnaise