Fusion Definition and 849 Threads

I know that fusion experiments are difficult due to the fact the plasma seldom stays stable for long, but what exactly causes this plasma instability and are they any formulas to possibly predict the destabilisation of the plasma?

I understand the main concepts around this topic but I am struggling to find any information about the potential energy involved in the latent heat of fusion. My book defines internal energy as kinetic and potential unlike an ideal gas that is assumed to have just kinetic energy. When a...

Can a small fusion cell be created? If no, is it due to low confinement time it would have or something else? Thank you.

Homework Statement Two 2_1 H atoms undergo fusion to form 3_1 H and 1_1 H atom calculate the energy released by 1.0kg of deuterium.. the amu is given as :2_1 H : 2.01402u 3_1 H : 3.016049u 1_1 H : 1.007825 u P/s : i am...

I am a Senior in High School and I would like guidance in selecting a major. I've been most seriously considering Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical, and Materials engineering. Maybe Engineering Physics, I don't know too much about it though. Is nuclear engineering a major some places? What...

After Lockheed Martins announcement that they were developing a fusion reactor that might fit on the back of a pickup truck, I got into a conversation with someone about how one would shield such a device. So I found some tables that described the cross section of protons at different energy...

Hi there, Sorry if thisis a stupid question its just been bugging me for a while and I am not a scientist as such so need help with the answer... nuclear fission is where two atoms collide and release energy yes? nuclear fusion is where two atoms combine to release energy and a new isotope...

Hi, I'm in my final year at an Australian high school and I plan on completing at Bachelors in Science Majoring in Physics as my undergraduate course. My career aspiration is one day work researching nuclear fusion, though I am happy to work with fission reactors, they're just not my first...

Homework Statement During fusion of hydrogen to helium, 4 billion kg of matter are converted to energy each second. What fraction of the Sun’s total mass is lost each year to this process? Homework Equations None. The Attempt at a Solution First: Convert how many seconds are there in a year 1...

I am currently in my first year of undergrad taking general science course classes with an undeclared Major. My dream is to work with Nuclear Fusion reactors, and i am at a bit of a loss at choosing Majors. Should I make my concentration "Applied physics specializing in Nuclear Engineering(or...

I am interested in doing research in controlled nuclear fusion , i am doing my electrical engineering 4th year in India. Since no college in my country offers post graduation in fusion related fields , i have decided to do M.Tech in Nuclear science and technology in Indian Institute of Technolgy...

A basic question for which I could not find any answers on the internet: What factors do determine whether the fusion results with a He-4 and gamma rays, H-3 and proton, or He-3 and neutron? If it is random, are there any methods to predict the rations of these reactions? Thank you.

Do you know of any promising concepts for small scale fusion reactors (for electric power production)? I'm thinking of something the size of, say, a train car or even smaller.

Certainly fission is a prime example of entropy. But what about fusion? Doesn't fusion look like a process that goes from a disordered state to an ordered one? Out of chaos comes order!

What is the general difference between the two (for someone who is still new to nuclear physics) and which one produces the highest net energy? Which of these has the highest potential for the future?

I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of higher level Physics and, despite my usual haunt being the EE area, I enjoy reading the responses and discussion in this section of the forum. I was talkin' to a friend about Fusion power and he asked me why it wasn't used instead of Fission. Now...

When doing an experiment to find the specific latent heat of fusion of liquid nitrogen, you find that 100 kJ of heat must be removed to freeze 3.8kg of nitrogen at its freezing point. What value will you get for the specific latent heat of fusion of nitrogen? Power=100kj M=3.8kg I don't...

I came across these slides http://hedpschool.lle.rochester.edu/2009SummerSchool/lectures/Key.pdf which say that the main problems with Fast igniton fusion are 1. Compress DT fuel to high ρ, ρR around cone tip; cone tip must survive Gbar implosion pressure 2. Relativistic laser interaction...

What type of fusion reaction generates the most neutrons? All I've been able to find information for is D-D fusion and D-T fusion.

I am doing a high school research project on nuclear fusion and i just wanted to double check if my understanding of the role of binding energy in fusion reactions was correct. So we add energy in the form of heat to a tritium atom of mass "3" approximately and deuterium of mass "2" , this is...

Hey guys, So, I'm writing a screenplay about space travel. I've been thinking of using nuclear fusion as the method of space travel. I've read it's a viable option. But, I don't know much about nuclear fusion. I know cold fusion is, at this point, a near-impossible option. But is it true...

Homework Statement You are required to calculate the efficiency of an ice-making machine that takes in water at a temperature of 16°C and produces ice cubes at a temperature of -6°C. Water is taken in at the rate of 1kg every 5 minutes and the input power to the machine is 300W. The Specific...

Ok so I recently read this article (http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184280-focus-fusion-has-cheap-clean-earth-saving-fusion-power-been-right-under-our-noses-all-along). This gave me a few ideas and a few questions. I would like to create a smaller version of this setup to fuse deuterium into...

I am an electrical engineering student doing my third year. I am interested in doing research in making fusion energy a commercial energy source by doing research in current techniques and also interested in creating new techniques for making fusion process continuous and efficient than current...

I am trying to determine whether a burn would propagate faster through hydrogen or helium. My initial guess is helium due to the higher mass. I also think this is true in stars. Anyone have an idea on burn propagation and how different masses of material would affect it? Is my first...

why doesn't background radiation cause lithium hydride to explode in a nuclear chain reaction Li7 + H = Be8 + energy Be8 = 2He4 + energy

Hi, Three questions to forum about something I have been wondering about on antimatter: Can antihydrogen fuse to make antihelium through an antiproton-antiproton chain similar to how protons fuse to make helium in the Sun? If so, like nuclear fusion with matter, does nuclear fusion with...

Was this technique ever demonstrated experimentally, or it could be regarded as practically failed theory? https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/ignition/fast-ignition

A few years back I started a thread to make the point that there is a common misconception about main-sequence stars that their fusion rate sets their luminosity, in the sense that to know what the luminosity of the star will be, you need to know what the fusion rate is. In particular, you...

When using ice to keep a room (or in my case, a cooler) cold, one would want it to have a high specific heat capacity and a high latent heat of fusion, so that it would absorb a lot of energy as it melts. Basically, so that it melts as slowly as possible. I know that adding salt to road ice...

If I was going to build a fusion device for energy production I would build a cylinder filled with fusion fuel and the fusion would happened in the center. First it would be hard to start the fusion with relatively cold fuel. After a while of heating, the surrounding fuel would be hotter even if...

Hi everyone, This is a question about conformal field theory. Even though it is not directly about beyond the SM, it seems like an appropriate place to ask since it is an important tool in string theory. I am confused by the fusion rules \phi_i ~ \phi_j = N^k_{ij} \phi_k (where as...

I have a problem reconciling something. According to Newton's shell theorem, at any point within a solid sphere, for the purposes of calculating the gravitational force exerted on you, the mass that is outside your own radius to the center can be ignored since it cancels out, and the net force...

Hi guys, I'm pretty new to the site and I have a few questions, but I'll start with the most imporatant ones or at least the ones I would like answered first. Anyway so my understanding is that in a thermonuclear weapon the large majority of the explosive power comes from the fission reaction...

Homework Statement The energy output of an average person is about 121 Watts. Suppose the average human has a mass of 80 kg and it could run on fusion power by converting only .7% of its mass into energy. 1) how much energy would be available to the body through fusion? 2) How long could the...

This is a total newb question but please explain. If nuclear fusion is occurring during a hydrogen bomb explosion, then why is it said that more energy is needed catalyze fusion than will be produced during the reaction - H-bombs seem to blow that theory out of the water. (no pun intended) :-p

I'm looking for some input on this. Wisconsin has the better programs for MHD theory, CFD, and my undergrad advisor told me IHO it has the best plasma physics program period. However Michigan offers more options in applied plasmas in areas other than fusion energy. Honestly, I don't know if...

Hi. I need help please with a textbook illustration that has confused me. Is the caption a typo? Should be "neutrons into protons" instead? Thanks.

I am currently studying A level Physics. I understand that, in a nuclear fusion reaction, the mass of the nucleus we end up with is smaller than that of its constituent nuclei, so Δm is negative and so energy is lost in huge amounts. But what about a nuclear fission reaction? The mass of the...

more in, http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/12/nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-green-energy-source

I'm aware my following thoughts are highly speculative at best, i just wish to be explained, are they total magic, do they have anything common with reality, what can be their Mohs scale level? I thought about a story, where people fused their brain with nanobots, while they still think like...

I was wondering whether thermonuclear fusion could be achieved in accretion disks around black holes, or even neutron stars/white dwarfs. Seems like, in AGN at the very least, you would easily get the kind of temperatures and pressures necessary for thermonuclear fusion, perhaps even synthesis...

does fusion nuclear reaction produce alpha and jamma ridation or just alpha

Hi there, When an alpha particle is formed inside a nucleus by binding together is this essentially nuclear fusion occurring? Why is this more likely to happen in a large nucleus than a small one? Thanks

I'm taking high school physics, and I've had problems in the past with flat out errors in my textbook (I've brought them up here). It's incredibly frustrating when your trying to understand something. Anyways, I need to know which is right: The text in my book goes through to explain...

Hello, this is my first post(so, hopefully I'm not breaking any decorum). Something that I've always been puzzled about. I understand that a star will keep fusing elements until it hits iron. What I'm curious of, is why? Why does iron take so much more energy to create fusion than other...

Homework Statement "Assuming that the incident deuteron has sufficient energy, why is the reaction d+d \rightarrow He^{4}_{2}+\pi^{0} not allowed?" Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I've gone through the various conservation laws that apply in a strong reaction...

what is the feasibility of sustained fusion by employing magnetic confinement of plasma?

Homework Statement A 100g (.1kg) cube o ice at 0dC (d=degrees) is placed in 1kg of water that was originally at 80dC. What is the nal temperature of the water after the ice has melted? Answer: 65.5dCHomework Equations Lf = Q/m Q=(DelT)mCThe Attempt at a Solution At first I looked up the latent...

Hi! I am just asking a question a friend of mine asked me: "When will fusion work?" I personly think it is not a question of if as much a question of when. I am a little bit lazy here but I have read the ITER information a while ago and I think they said very confidently that this new Tokamak...