Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear processes that can release large amounts of energy.

In nuclear fusion, matter is converted into energy according to Einstein's equation E=mc^2. The matter consumed is transformed into lighter elements like helium, releasing large amounts of energy in the process.

Fusion reactions occur in the core of stars, where high temperatures and pressures allow hydrogen atoms to collide and merge to form helium. This process releases a tremendous amount of energy in the form of light and heat.

Uranium-235 consists of 92 protons and 143 neutrons in its nucleus.

We don't know much about fusion as it is still very experimental. It will not produce the dangerous fission products that fission does, but it may have other dangers unknown as yet.

Nuclear fusion has more destructive potential than fission. Fusion is the principle powering the H-bomb developed in the Cold War. Just to put the power of a Fusion bomb in perspective, it is detonated by a fission bomb half the size of the one dropped on Japan. THAT'S JUST THE DETONATOR.

There is an existing fusion technology that produces controlled amounts of fusion energy - more energy out of the fusion power generating system than it takes to run the fusion power generating system.

It might be worthwhile to remember that Ivy-Mike technology worked the very first time it was tried in the 1952 nuclear test. Mike technology was the basis of the first thermonuclear weapons in the US arsenal. Adapting Mike technology to be pure DT-DD fusion opens up many new applications in safe, economical, fusion power generation.

While historically practical nuclear fusion has used a small amount of fissionable material like U235 to produce the conditions for fusion - Today, there are smaller pure fusion devices optimized to make clean energy (not blast effects) from hybrid pure DT-DD fusion while producing no radioactive fission products and high level nuclear waste. Modern DT-DD pure fusion devices produce the overwhelming majority of their energy from the DD fusion reaction of Deuterium separated from sea water.

One such modern hybrid DT-DD fusion design is called mini-Mike, which produces a small predictable controlled energy yield of 250 GJ per shot.

(Since pictures and outside web links are not allowed on Answers)

Description of a practical hybrid 2-stage fusion device -

mini-Mike is a two stage device that features a small hollow 2 mm diameter Deuterium-Tritium fusion capsule which in turn ignites a column of pressurized Deuterium cryo-liquid resulting in devices with safe and reliable energy yields optimized for power generation.

In 60 years, all existing MCF and ICF fusion systems have never worked (in the sense that they have not produced more energy from fusion than it took to get the fusion plasma to fusion conditions)..

Mike technology worked the first time it was tried and produced huge amounts of net energy (and has never failed).

Rather than placing our faith in scaling laws while we build ever larger and more expensive fusion experiments while trying to achieve break even energy generation - why not go back to the field and adapt technology that has never failed to finally find success in fusion?

Assuming that the particle is alone in free space, which is not a realistic condition, then we are talking about quantum chromodynamics.

The gist is that the subatomic particles have a quantum mechanical probability associated to their energy. If that energy randomly, aka quantum mechanically, increases above a certain threshold level, called the "bound state energy", then the nucleus of the atom may separate into two atoms or nuclei.

Imagine rolling a ball in a valley that has a hill on both sides of it. If the ball does not have enough kinetic energy to rois ll over top of the valley and down the hill, then it will oscillate back and forth, up and down the walls of the valley. This is assuming no friction.

But in the quantum world, there is a chance that the ball with quantum jump through the hill and thus travel down the hill on the other side of the valley. In terms of the nuclei in the process of fission, this analogy means if the ball is in the valley then the nucleus stays together; but if the ball leaps through the hill and down the hill then the nucleus breaks into smaller pieces and fly apart. This explains fission.

For fusion, the analogy is in reverse. If the ball is outside the valley, then the two nuclei stay apart. But if the ball "teleports" back inside the valley, then the two nuclei combine into one.

Currently, there are no nuclear power plants that use nuclear fusion for commercial energy production. Fusion has not yet been achieved at a sustained, commercial scale for power generation. Most nuclear power plants currently use nuclear fission.

Fusion was first achieved by researchers at Princeton University in New Jersey, United States in 1951. This milestone experiment demonstrated the fusion of two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, at high temperatures to release large amounts of energy.

During nuclear fusion, hydrogen atoms are fused into helium atoms. This process releases a large amount of energy in the form of heat and light. It is the same process that powers the sun and other stars.

Nuclear fission is the splitting of an atomic nucleus into two or more smaller nuclei, releasing energy. Nuclear fusion is the combining of two light atomic nuclei to form a heavier nucleus, also releasing energy. Fission is the process used in nuclear power plants, while fusion is what powers the sun and other stars.

Nuclear fusion only releases energy when elements lighter than iron are involved. This is because elements lighter than iron release energy due to the process of fusion, while elements heavier than iron require energy to be input for fusion to occur.

No, Jupiter would need to be about 80 times more massive to generate enough pressure and temperature in its core to undergo nuclear fusion and become a star. With an increase of only 10 times its mass, Jupiter would still be a gas giant planet.

It takes substantial energy - but it does happen, it's just difficult to achieve on earth.

However, the process of proton-proton fusion is one of the key reactions that takes place in the sun. 2 Hydrogen nuclei (protons) fuse to produce a deuterium nucleus (1 proton, 1 neutron) and a positron (positive electron). Subsequently, the deuterium nuclei can fuse with protons to form helium.

The electrostatic force provides substantial repulsion, hence the need for very high temperatures (about 15 million K). It is only at high temperatures that the KE of the protons is sufficient to overcome the electrostatic repulsion.

However, once you overcome electrostatics then the strong force will bind the 2 nucleons together - and produce a new nucleus. In the case of deuterium, and helium-3 and helium-4 the nuclei are stable. Tritium can also be produced, this is unstable and decays into helium-3.

There is a final catch - in that the temperatures of the sun aren't quite high enough to overcome the electrostatic repulsion between protons, so how can the reaction take place.

The solution is 'quantum tunneling' - A simple explanation: according to classical physics, if a particle doesn't has less energy than a barrier then the barrier acts like a brick wall - the particle can't cross it. In quantum mechanics, things are probability based - it's possible, for a particle to cross any barrier - the height of the barrier and the energy of the particle determine the probability that particle can cross. Occasionally, this means a particle can cross a barrier that is higher than its energy level - the particle appears to 'tunnel' through the barrier, instead of going over it. x TPS

Nuclear fusion requires extremely high temperatures, and pressures.

Nuclear fusion requires extremely high temperatures, and pressures.

Nuclear fusion requires extremely high temperatures, and pressures.

Nuclear fusion requires extremely high temperatures, and pressures.

It is just protons joining together, which are hydrogen ions, so the only fuel required is hydrogen, the reaction proceeds due to the high pressure at the sun's core, due to the immense gravitational compression. See the link below

Nuclear fusion has the potential to be better than fission because it produces more energy, generates less radioactive waste, and uses abundant fuel sources like hydrogen isotopes. However, fusion technology is still in development and faces challenges in achieving sustainable reactions.

Helium is a noble gas. It has its outermost electron orbits completely filled with electrons. Because it cannot react very easily with other things, this gas has many applications the filed of chemistry.

It takes a huge amount of pressure and temperature to get started and maintain stably. Fusion experiments kept going so far are highly inefficient and take more energy to do than they produce.

Nuclear fusion is when two nuclei join together and another different nucleus results. For example deuterium plus tritium (both hydrogen isotopes) fuse to give helium. The D nucleus is one proton and one neutron, the T nucleus is one proton and two neutrons. When they join the result is the He nucleus which has two protons and two neutrons, and so there is also a spare neutron ejected.

Fission occurs with large nuclei like U-235 and Pu-239, the nucleus just splits apart forming the nuclei of two lighter elements (the total number of protons has to equate before and after), and also releasing spare neutrons. One or more of these spare neutrons can then be captured by another U-235 or Pu-239 nucleus, so that a chain reaction can proceed.

You can find diagrams in Wikipedia

One major disadvantage of using nuclear fusion reactors is the challenge of controlling and sustaining the extreme conditions required for fusion reactions to occur, such as high temperatures and pressures. Additionally, the technology is still in the developmental stage and has not yet been deployed on a large scale for energy production.

Fission is the splitting of the nucleus of a large heavy atom such as uranium into two smaller parts. Fusion is the sticking together of two light nuclei to make a heavier one, as occurs in the stars. Both processes release energy.

Nuclear fusion on the sun changes hydrogen into helium. This process releases energy in the form of light and heat. It is the source of the sun's power and the reason for its brightness and warmth.