How To Design A Better Tokamak Reactor

• An easy way to do better is to change just one slider at a time in small steps. When you can't do better with that one, try then moving a second one in the same way.

• Show the Graph or Table to keep track of how your previous tries have turned out.

• You probably guessed from the slider descriptions that you should be able to get a better score by just setting all of the sliders to their largest values. But that didn't happen, did it?

• That's because the program has built-in limits on the plasma density and temperature. When you exceed one of the limits, you lose control of the plasma (fusion scientists say the plasma disrupts ) and no fusion power is produced. The program returns a big fat zero for a score.

  The limiting density and temperature values vary with the magnetic field (among other things) in ways which have been determined by experience with actual tokamak experiments. Your highest scores will generally be obtained just below these limits. If you want to know more, try the exercises.

• One of the 3 sliders has a much bigger effect on the score than the other two. See if you can figure out which one and then use that knowledge to get a better score.

• The score is related to the amount of fusion power divided by the auxiliary heating power (which you set with the slider!). So, the best scores are actually made with a low auxiliary heating power.