By Jayia
What is Nuclear Fusion?
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei fuse together to create a single heavier one, all while releasing massive amounts of energy. This type of reaction occurs in the core of the sun and in stars, as 4 hydrogen atoms fuse to form an helium atom, fueling them.
What is so special about nuclear fusion?
Nuclear fusion allows for an abundance in energy as the reaction releases four million times the amount of energy we get from burning coal, oil or gas and four times more energy than a nuclear fission reaction which occurs in the nuclear reactors found in the very few nuclear power plants in the world. Nuclear fusion is not only beneficial in the amounts of energy produced but also in the fact that it produces clean energy, I.e, no greenhouse gas emissions, no nuclear waste that could potentially be a threat, it’s by products can not be used a weapons, no risk of meltdowns, most unlike nuclear fission and all unlike the other sources of energy on the planet. This type of energy is now more in demand than ever as the planet is degrading rapidly and overpopulation is a problem increasing by the day; the daily energy use also increases by the day. Nuclear fusion would help to reduce the cost of energy and the worries of one day running out of energy.
If it is in such high demand, why aren’t we using it now?
Nuclear fusion, although important, is just a theory. This nuclear reaction has never happened on earth by the hands of humans. This is because massive amounts of heat and pressure is needed for the reaction to occur. One hundred million (100,000,000) degrees Celsius is needed as well as a gravitational force strong enough to confine the hydrogen atom which the earth simply does not have. In the early years when fusion was first theorized, there was high optimism and funding for the field but as the years passed by with experiment after experiment and no fusion power, these started to decline.
Will we ever be able to use nuclear fusion for energy?
Recently, there has been major breakthroughs in the path to energy by nuclear fusion as there has been development of high temperature superconductors and other technologies that will help to generate power by fusion. However, we are not very close to having electricity by fusion power and there is still more to learn about the science of fusion.
“At this point, it is not a question of whether we can have fusion reactors to power our world, it is a question of how quickly we can make them affordable and commercially viable.” — Dr. Carlos Romero-Talamas
Like Dr. Romero-Talamas, many scientist believe fusion power is in the distant future (in a few decades or so), mainly because, even with the progress made, it will take a lot more energy to allow for fusion to produce energy for the world and it takes at least a decade to build nuclear plants. So for now, nuclear fusion to produce electricity is still just a theory.
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