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What is Nuclear Fusion?

It's been all over the news and has many people talking. But what is it? In science terms, it's when two light nuclei combine and form one heavier nucleus. When they combine, it releases energy because the mass of the one nucleus is less than the two originals, causing the remaning mass to become energy.

https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainsnuclear-fusion-reactions

Why It's Trending

In the early morning of December 5th, 2022, it happened. Researches at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) focused 2.05 megajouls of lazer light onto a small capsule of fusion fuel and created an explosion that produced 3.15 megajouls of energy. It was a breakthrough and scientist and researches from all over the world are expressing their excitement for the world-changing achievement.

However, the hype isn't just for them; this effects all of us. As we already know, our planet's dependence upon fossil fuels isn't healthy and could be our demise. Nuclear fusion, in its ideal form, could promise us an abundant, carbon-free new energy source.

But such a big pro cannot come without many cons. One of which being that getting hydrogen ions to fuse into helium and release energy needs temperatures of millions degrees Celsius. These temperatures are very hard to maintain for longer than a fraction of a second but with time, researches hope to advance what's possible. “Three mega jouls is a of a lot of energy. It shows something is working,” says Steven Rose, a plasma physicist of Imperial College London.