Nuclear Fusion: Bringing the Sun to Earth

2014 ◽  
pp. 681-698
Keyword(s):  
2004 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 309-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Fiorentini ◽  
Barbara Ricci ◽  
Francesco L. Villante
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1846
Author(s):  
Florian Ion Tiberiu Petrescu ◽  
Relly Victoria Virgil Petrescu

Today, the best way to get free energy is nuclear, through fission, and hopefully soon through fusion. The best way to get clean and friendly energy in a sustainable way remains the start of the nuclear fusion reaction at an industrial scale. Nuclear fusion is the combination of two light nuclei in a heavier nucleus. Fusion or thermonuclear reaction of light elements are typical reactions that occur in the Sun and other stars. Indeed, in the Sun, every second, 657 million tons of hydrogen are converted into 653 million tons of helium. The 4 million tonnes missing are then converted to radiation - this phenomenon assuring the sun's shine. A fusion reaction in which a relatively large amount of energy (27.7 MeV) is released is one in which four protons interact leading to the formation of a helium nucleus (an alpha particle). The paper proposes two modern methods of obtaining free energy, one of which is somewhat strange, the capillarity. Until one of the two new ideas proposed, the first for the start of the nuclear fusion reaction, and the second one for the possible construction of capillary power plants in the future, it is still necessary to keep the green energy of any type already existing and nuclear fission.


Subject The outlook for the development of nuclear fusion as an energy source. Significance The last two years have seen several projects reporting 'significant' progress towards the goal of developing nuclear fusion energy. This form of energy replicates the processes that drive the sun and is considered the ideal form of energy generation -- safe, clean, resource-efficient and effectively 'unlimited'. Impacts The France-based INTER project will not be ready until 2025, even assuming funds continue to flow at the required rate. Funding in China looks solid; China may decide to increase it to move to a more advanced experimental reactor. Germany's stellarator design offers an alternative technological path.


2019 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee

The Sun and other stars generate energy by nuclear fusion processes that convert hydrogen into helium. Eddington was first to suggest the conversion of hydrogen into helium might fuel the stars. At the time stars were thought to have a composition similar to that of the Earth, which cast doubt on Eddington’s idea. Cecilia Payne corrected this misconception and showed the Sun and stars are actually formed of hydrogen and helium with only traces of other elements. Bethe and Crichfield devised mechanisms for how hydrogen nuclear fusion takes place in stars. In more massive stars, such as Betelgeuse, helium is converted into carbon and oxygen. We now know that all the elements beyond helium are created in the stars.


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