Nuclear Fusion

By: Yours Truly, Christie Osadchy, and The Fool Who Ripped His Pants

Nuclear Fusion

• If light nuclei are forced together, they will fuse with a yield of energy because the mass of the combination will be less than the sum of the masses of the individual nuclei. If the combined nuclear mass is less than that of iron at the peak of the binding energy curve, then the nuclear particles will be more tightly bound than they were in the lighter nuclei, and that decrease in mass comes off in the form of energy according to the Einstein relationship. For elements heavier than iron, fission will yield energy.

Fusion Power

• Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion reactions. In this kind of reaction, two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus and in doing so, release a large amount of energy.

Some Facts

• Nuclear fusion is the energy source of the future. It is what provides the sun and the stars with the energy to shine continuously for billions of years.

• Fusion has been used here on earth to produce nuclear bombs, but has not yet been controlled so that we can obtain useful energy.

How Fusion Work• Fusion is what happens when two atomic nuclei are

forced together by high pressure ... high enough to overcome the strong repulsive forces of the respective protons in the nuclei. When the nuclei fuse, they form a new element, and release excess energy in the form of a fast-moving neutron. The energy is 'extra' because the mass of the newly formed nucleus is less than the sum of the masses of the original two nuclei; the extra mass is converted to energy according to Einstein's equation E=mc2 This energy can be used to do useful work