Abstract This work will involve a study of impulsive heating by current dissipation to help interpret the new vector magnetograph and hard X-ray observations of solar flares proposed for the MAX'91 program. Analyses of electron acceleration and bulk heating in the context of a single flux system have indicated that a simple current structure cannot in principle explain an impulsive x-ray burst. These analyses are to be extended by calculating the heating (and possible electron acceleration) associated with a large-scale current sheet generated by interacting magnetic flux systems. Such a calculation involves the self-consistent solution of the time dependent current sheet electron and ion energy equations. The results of this research will be compared with observations to determine if complex flare geometries and current systems are truly a prerequisite for a solar flare. ***
