Fusion Definition and 849 Threads

I haven't thought about it TOO much, but it seems that you should only get power from either fusing atoms or splitting (fissing?) them, but how come both? Wouldn't that mean you could continually fuse and split atoms for continual energy gain? (My currrent thought against that is, that you can...

I keeps seeing news about iran making uranium and everybody is using nuclear fission bombs instead of nuclear fusion. Hydrogen bombs are much more powerful because they use fusion, but still all countries that have nuclear weapons use uranium fission bombs, Why? What advantage does fission...

What do you guys make of this?? http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/17/nuclear-future-beyond-japan/ It says, and i quote: Which makes me feel at least partly safe posting this on PF. Any thoughts?

Basically as the title says, what type of fusion would give the highest number of neutrons for a given amount of power. Also am I correct in assuming that most fusion methods will always produce more neutrons than other neutron sources such as americium-beryllium? (There are probably some...

Homework Statement The ice piece of 380 g was taken from the deep-freezer, temperature was -9,6 °C, and well insulated container to the being stone-cold ( 0 °C) water. Inside the Ice piece was small temperature detector. When temperature of the the ice piece had balanced 0 °C. part of the...

Note: Fusion engineering, not pure fusion. I've seen a few of these programs around (like at UC Berkeley or MIT) and was wondering if that was all that is needed to do industry or academic level research or is a PhD necesary. I would really prefer to spend as little time in school as possible.

I had a question after having read an article in an old Popular Science magazine I found at a children's Hospital. These two guys apparently are building a nuclear fusion generator that's going to excite hydrogen plasma inside of a magnetic "sphere", and then they're going to use magnetic...

Homework Statement In a fusion reaction, the nuclei of two atoms join to form a single atom of a different element. In such a reaction, a fraction of the rest energy of the original atoms is converted to kinetic energy of the reaction products. A fusion reaction that occurs in the Sun converts...

I was hoping someone could help clear up a few things about fusion for me. I've read that fission produces around 1,000,000 times more energy than any chemical recation and that fusion produces 3 to 4 times more energy than fission. I can only find 'estimated' numbers like these, but is there...

Most research on nuclear fusion obviously is done in materials for containing and generating the plasma and this is not the speciality of a nuclear physicist. Is there actually anything for nuclear physicists to do for research other than figuring out a totally new path for achieving fusion?

We did a calorimeter experiment in my school however the teacher warned us that the latent heat of fusion of ice value will be different from the standard value because the ice has water in it and because the ice melts little before actually doing the experiment. However my question is which way...

Hello,I've been wondering if any of you can suggest an internet source that explains nuclear fusion in a not too complicated way.My problem was,that I need it to make a presentation in physics class,but the simple ways it explains it,it says things like ''protons and neutrons are clumped...

Homework Statement the heat of fusion of water is 6.01 kj/mol. the heat capacity of liquid water is 75.3 j/mol*k. the conversion of 50g of ice at 0 degrees C to liquid water at 22 degrees C requires _____kj of heat. The Attempt at a Solution i converted grams of ice to mols and got 2.778...

Q. Our present theory of the sun and the mechanism of thermonuclear fusion inside it predicts that the following reactions occur in the sun. 1H + 1H --> 2H + antielectron + neutrino 1H + 1H --> 2H + antielectron + neutrino electron + antielectron --> photon + photon electron +...

Homework Statement Our present theory of the sun and the mechanism of thermonuclear fusion inside it predicts that the following reactions occur in the sun. 1H + 1H --> 2H + antielectron + neutrino 1H + 1H --> 2H + antielectron + neutrino electron + antielectron --> photon + photon...

Hi everyone, I am studying the feasibility of using the collision of two beams to obtain nuclear fusion energy. I would like you to recommend me some serious and intersting articles about this. Is there any experiment that does fusion by beam collitions already? Im open to hear about any...

Hi everyone, Im currently in the way of learning about fusion to prepare myself for a thesis in this area. The method of colliding beams was what came to my mind the most naturally at first and it has catched my interest ever since. So, this is what i want to ask: Is there any serious...

Homework Statement A small 50:50 D-T pellet of density p=3g/cm^3 is used for inertial fusion. Estimate minimum energy and power of the laser device required to heat the pellet to T=10^4 eV and to achieve the energy break-even condition Homework Equations Lawson criteria: nt>10^20...

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-italian-scientists-cold-fusion-video.html I know you guys had to have seen this article by now. I am a just a tech guy so most of this is over my head but I am curious what you guys think about it. Is it possible? If you combine Hydrogen with Ni62 or Ni64...

Anything to this? Or are these guys quacks? Anybody know? http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-italian-scientists-cold-fusion-video.html

e^- + e^+\rightarrow\overline{\nu}_e + \nu_e + H Can it possible for this process happen in lab frame? i.e. the positron is accelerated to collide with the electron target.

I am hopeful that the new large ITER tokamak style fusion reactor will be successful. According to wikipedia: The ITER fusion reactor itself has been designed to produce 500 MW of output power for 50 MW of input power, or ten times the amount of energy put in. Hereby the machine is...

why is "melting" called "fusion"? any idea why is "melting" called "fusion"? molecules during melting are moving farther apart, they are not "fusing" together. It seems counterintuitive to call "melting" "fusion"

I was looking over an old qualifying exam and I came across a problem asking what the maximum height of a mountain on Earth could be. The solution states that the rock at the base of the mountain will melt and flow away when the potential energy of the top layer of the mountain is equal to the...

Hello, Why is confinement a big problem in fusion and not in fission? Is it simply due to the fact that in fission, we're injecting a neutron that is neutral, and in fusion we're pushing together charged particles? If so, why is that facet not taken care of by reaching the critical ignition...

How close do two room temperature deuterium nuclei need to be to each other to have a one-in-a-quintillion chance of "tunneling" into each other so that the nuclear forces bind them together despite the repulsive effect of the positively-charged protons?

why it is so difficult for scientist to control the fusion reaction why they not make a lage room with heat resistance walls and make a explosion to start the fusion reaction and add appropiate amount of hydogen by some hole if small quantity of hydrogen is entered in such room so the...

How much kinetic energy is required for a proton and neutron to fuse(in any given condition)? I've also heard that a proton-proton fusion is impossible because it needs a lot of kinetic energy, but how much(also comparable to p-n fusion)?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12007965" Can anyone shed any light on this? Will work on building ITER be delayed or postponed because of this wrangling? They are talking about absolutely huge amounts of money which is maybe politically unpalatable for many european...

Let's say two nuclei fuse (proton and neutron), it will do effects such as generate energy and so on...my question is, I want to know all the methods (theoretical or mathematical) which can describe fusion, for e.g calculations, formulas used (schrodinger equation if used)... I don't need...

I've got one and a half year left of my B.s. studies so I've started thinking about finding a graduate programs. I'm very interested in thermonuclear fusion and I want to do something with that so I've been looking up schools that are doing some research in that field theoretical or experimental...

how much energy is released during the fusion of proton and neutron?

Looking at these images and video, and thinking about difficulties in holding plasma within EM field, I had an idea: [PLAIN]http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/etna/etna00/etna0005photo/icons/e71-small.jpg http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/etna/etna00/etna0005photo-it.html Video...

Okay, you all are my last hope, as my last brain cell just dripped out of my ear from searching and calculating. I am needing a scenario for a novel, one where I'd like to get the physics for the detonation portion at least mostly accurate. I wish to employ a pure fusion weapon -- yes, I...

why do scientist insist on confinement as the way of producing power, not something like colliding accelerated particles together? and is polywell really the best possible method to produce fuion power as the new trend suggests?

This is not a request for help but an opportunity to participate in a Fusion Energy shot online. Please read below. We are carrying out an education experiment for Fusion Energy. Fusion occurs inside a device called a Tokamak, I'm a PhD student working at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy...

So if we have a supermassive black hole or a regular black hole with gas swirling around it. Can this gas get hot enough to fuse with other gas molecules around it? It seems like there would be enough energy to do this, maybe not. This question seems non-trivial and I think it needs some...

Hi I assume that two hydrogen atoms fuse together to form one helium atom during nuclear fusion. But what happens when other isotopes of hydrogen fuse together? What happens to two deuterium atoms when they fuse together? Tritium? I'm assuming that they would form an isotope of helium, but...

I've been looking for information on this but can't seem to find any... So I come to this wonderful place to find answers :) Everything I read about fusion power talks about D-T fusion being the ideal. I have two questions: 1. Why isn't a T-T reaction ever discussed? (does it happen...

Hi, I’m a hobbyist writer with a slight science fiction slant to my stories. Currently my work involves some reference to the much expected nuclear fusion power. I have been doing some research online, but since I’m not a physicist this naturally resulted in a number of questions. I’m not...

Hey there, has anyone out there ever attended the summer school run at Culham. I've been told its great by physicists but was wondering how useful it would be for an engineering undergrad with an interest in the field. The website says its run for undergrads as well as grad students and...

I'm currently studying Freidberg's plasma physics and fusion energy book, I've heard that Fusion between Deutrium and tritium is most suitable for a fusion reactor and how columb barrier plays its role....my question is what happens when two neutrons fuse together? do they face columb collision?

I'm trying to study concepts of fusion...please help in any means possible...Currently I'm studying freidberg's plasma physics but want to know more...

How high a density would need to be generated to initiate nuclear fusion for a d-d reaction to occur? I know as we compress, temperature increases, but for a moment consider we can't heat the atoms, we can only compress them. What kind of density would would need to be reached? (Or is it...

My friend and I are doing table top fusion for our science fair. We can not figure out a sutable replacement for lithum crystals either than magnets. We need independat varibles, because our teacher says that just 2 magnets is not good enough. Also, it has to be cheap and can be handled by 13...

Hello. I know that most fission reactors boils water to move a turbine like this one. Is the same for a future nuclear fusion power plant, produce heat and boil water? Some light about this please.

I'm trying to find fusion (let's say of 2 hydrogen nucleus) in particle physics, I've just started with my self study of Particle physics book, any info in regards to fusion (Any Equation, solution) would be very helpfull.. THANKS.....

I just want to know the Quantum Mechanics on the fusion of two atoms (let's say of 2 hydrogen atoms)...

I've heard that Sun is not hot enough to sustain thermonuclear fusion at the level we observe. Instead, the solar output relies on quantum tunneling of protons through their natural repulsive barrier. Might this same effect be useful in obtaining controlled thermonuclear fusion? It seems to me...

Homework Statement In a fusion reaction, the nuclei of two atoms join to form a single atom of a different element. In such a reaction, a fraction of the rest energy of the original atoms is converted to kinetic energy of the reaction products. A fusion reaction that occurs in the Sun converts...