A discussion of fusion recation

Afterward there are one proton and one neutron bound together as the nucleus of deuterium plus a positron and a neutrino produced as a consequence of the conversion of one proton to a neutron. To make fusion happen, the atoms of hydrogen must be heated to very high temperatures million degrees so they are ionized forming a plasma and have sufficient energy to fuse, and then be held together i.

Nuclear fusion equation

In turn, the availability of the chosen energy sources reinforces and feeds back on the viability of the society. Deuterium is plentifully available in ordinary water. Consequently, in the late fifties, Rand Corporation carried out a technological development study —the first study in which the Delphi method for the organised consulting of experts on the future of the technological development was used—. The economic feasibility of fusion energy Because of the long period of time that will have to pass before fusion energy can begin to be obtained, it can easily be shown in conventional economic and financial terms that the value of the cumulative research and development investments will not be recoverable. For example, the ionization energy gained by adding an electron to a hydrogen nucleus is The leaders of the scientific establishment proposing fusion as the ultimate solution to energy problems are aware that this is the best manner of obtaining funding. Putting the fusion problem over the time's arrow, one immediately realises the extent to which discussion of this source of energy is falsified and useless. They would have to be replaced every three or four years, if not earlier, which means that the main problem with fission nuclear power, the production of radioactive waste, would also be present, albeit in a perhaps muted version, in generating fusion energy. There are many other examples of this kind of technological manipulation: the electric car, the notion of future universal recycling

Specifically, there is a long list of reasons, which I will exemplify below. Who cares?

Fusion energy in its own historical context Discussion of the advantages and drawbacks of a source of energy is totally meaningless outside of its economic, social, ecological and technological context. It is obvious that any society will, byneed to use energy.

What is fusion in chemistry

In a commercial reactor, radiation and the huge plasma temperatures — million degrees to reach ignition— would be so destructive that obtaining materials that will endure the year life of the reactor is today unthinkable. From this moment onwards, military pressure in favour of building a superbomb or H-bomb imposed itself very quickly in spite of the contrary opinion of many repenting atomic scientists, like Oppenheimer himself, the father of the atomic bomb [3]. For example, in the fusion of two hydrogen nuclei to form helium, 0. The first of these experiments was conducted a few months after the Gulf War and a few weeks before an EC Ministers' meeting in which they had to approve new credits for the fusion energy program. In the first place, they project the current geopolitical situation onto the future and imagine that even if developing fusion energy goes against any kind of energetic or economic rationality, it guarantees the long-term dominance of the developed Northern countries over mankind as a whole. Follow all of ScienceDaily's latest research news and top science headlines! The fusion of two nuclei lighter than iron or nickel generally releases energy while the fusion of nuclei heavier than iron or nickel absorbs energy; vice-versa for the reverse process, nuclear fission. Quite apart from the dubious usefulness of such efforts, in the case of fusion energy the essential data are not only not available, they are not even likely to exist. The remaining The functioning of the reactor itself the production and use of tirium, which is a radioactive gas, even if this gas has a relatively short radioactive life 12 years. In January Truman gave orders to start the research program, as well as the test explosions needed for developing the H-bomb, the technological principle of which would later lead to conceiving the nuclear fusion reactor. Ever since, new forecasts have been made which have proposed later and later dates, although always calculated to fit within the life expectations of the adult generation of the time. But observations of Cepheid variable stars showed this was not happening. One can, therefore, take as the earliest possible moment in which fusion energy may become a significant energy source the s. Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars.

What will be the political system, the social structure, the scientific and technological knowledge, the economic and productive structures and the perception of ecological problems, together with other crucial concerns that we cannot even imagine today?

The fusion of lighter elements in stars releases energy and the mass that always accompanies it.

Nuclear fission

In this way, the same point would be arrived at, but at an incomparably lower cumulative cost. For a technological development project to be accepted as feasible it must fulfil at least three indispensable conditions: It must be predictable, that is, it should be compatible with an execution schedule in which variables can be measured to a sufficient degree. Research into using fusion for the production of electricity has been pursued for over 60 years. In heavier stars, the CNO cycle and other processes are more important. Scientifically, it was only seven years after Albert Einstein's publication of his first essay on relativity and no one had ever heard of quantum mechanics or of solid-state physics, which would bring about electronics [6]. Scientists have sought to make fusion work on earth for over 40 years. As a star uses up a substantial fraction of its hydrogen, it begins to synthesize heavier elements. Only direct conversion of mass into energy , such as that caused by the annihilatory collision of matter and antimatter , is more energetic per unit of mass than nuclear fusion. From this moment onwards, military pressure in favour of building a superbomb or H-bomb imposed itself very quickly in spite of the contrary opinion of many repenting atomic scientists, like Oppenheimer himself, the father of the atomic bomb [3]. This conclusion seems obvious, but in order to make it even clearer it may be useful to take another leap in the arrow of time, this time backwards, and place ourselves mentally in , that is, eight decades in the past, in order to consider the wisdom of making prospective social, economic or technological analyses. Before the reaction there are two hydrogen nuclei that is, two protons.

Nuclear fusion in stars and supernovae is the primary process by which new natural elements are created. Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars. The German-born physicist Hans Bethe proposed in the s that the H-H fusion reaction could occur with a net release of energy and provide, along with subsequent reactions, the fundamental energy source sustaining the stars.

Both of these fusion reactions are exoergic and so yield energy.

The net result is the fusion of four protons into one alpha particlewith the release of two positrons and two neutrinos which changes two of the protons into neutronsand energy.

In cases where the interacting nuclei belong to elements with low atomic numbers e. But it is possible to apply to fusion energy the general concepts and criteria that are usually employed when assessing the feasibility of projects of the same type.

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