There was a massive breakthrough in the work to advance against using fossil fuels recently. In this blog post, we'll dive into how scientists were finally able to create a net energy gain from nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion is when you take an atom and you heat it up to almost its maximum capacity. Then, you put in another atom and they fuse together, creating one heavier atom. But, the new heavier atom actually has less mass than the original two atoms, so the remaining matter is converted into excess energy. Also, scientists normally use two hydrogen atoms [one with one neutron (called the deuterium) and one with two neutrons (called the tritium)] because they are very light, and those two atoms combine to make one helium atom, and energy is released, plus one extra energetic neutron which is ejected out because it makes the new atom unstable. (Picture of process shown below) In fact, the Sun also uses nuclear fusion to create energy! However, it also takes a lot of energy to heat the atoms up, so scientists were struggling to make a net energy gain. A net energy gain is when more energy is released from the process than the amount of energy needed.
So what are the benefits of nuclear fusion? It may be a primary electricity source in the future because of its potential to be an environmentally-friendly, easy-to-work-with energy source. Some scientists are even calling it the 'holy grail' of clean energy! It also leaves no carbon footprint, no radioactive waste, and it could bring cheap electricity to parts of the world that are in deep poverty.
By Armaan Dhawan
Image credit: https://www.shalom-education.com/courses/gcse-physics/lessons/atomic-structure/topic/nuclear-fusion/
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