Questions tagged [fusion]
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Binding energy, fission and fusion
My high school physics book doesn't elaborate the idea of binding energy and how it's related to fission and fusion adequately in a way that made me have wrong thoughts about these ideas.
What i ...
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0answers
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Would this experiment help solve turbulence in dynamical fluids? [closed]
(Inspiration from Tomamak fusion reactors + computational construction of fractals + machine learning.)
Fluid turbulence is complex and is apparently random, but it’s not. It’s chaotic.
Hypothesis:...
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2answers
102 views
Explain to me why the following reaction can happen in big stars but not on earth
$$
\rm
{}^{12}C +{}^{12}C\rightarrow {}^{20}Ne + {}^4He
$$
why doesn't this reaction occur on earth? but occurs in big stars?
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0answers
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How can you determine how much neutron shielding is necessary for a given neutron source?
Trying to make a fusor at home and I was wondering if there is an industry standard or perhaps an equation to determine how and what type of neutron shielding is necessary to protect against the high ...
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0answers
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CNO-cycle in Population III stars [duplicate]
It has been stated several times here and probably elsewhere that the first population III stars were unable to undergo H-to-He fusion via the CNO cycle as there was virtually no carbon-12 at the ...
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0answers
31 views
What is the maximum energy that can be released by thermonuclear device?
Forgive me by posing this somewhat scary question, but it's just out of curiosity I'm asking it.
In this video we're witnessing the beautiful and at the same time horrific blast of the tsar bomba, ...
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0answers
5 views
What is Incoming wave boundary condition (IWBC) in context of nuclear fusion reaction?
For calculation of fusion cross section at sub barrier energies, instead of regular boundary condition we impose Incoming wave boundary condition (IWBC). How does this different from normal boundary ...
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0answers
32 views
Sensitivity of latent heat of fusion of ice on temperature and pressure
The enthalpy of fusion is the heat necessary to convert 1 kg of ice to liquid water. According to Wikipedia, this heat equals 333,55 kJ/kg.
Does this heat change with the temperature or pressure and ...
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1answer
37 views
Fusion Kinetic Energy
In fusion, the mass of the reactants is greater than the mass of the products. Thus, mass is lost in fusion. My thinking was that this mass defect is converted into binding energy that is then used to ...
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1answer
46 views
If all we need to do is bombard with alpha particles then why can't we do nuclear fusion like that in the star?
In Chadwick's experiment, alpha particle from a source are bombarded on beryllium atom and fusion occurs to produce carbon atoms. My question is that if it is that easy to cause nuclear fusion, then ...
3
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4answers
115 views
Does the weak force have an attractive/repulsive force observable in everyday life like the other forces?
After the correct comments, this question is not here to compare gravity's and EM's long range forces' energetics and amplitudes to microscopic scattering amplitudes of such forces as weak and strong. ...
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1answer
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If binding energy (from mass defect) is essentially the strong nuclear force maintaining the nucleus, why is it released?
I am aware that during nuclear fusion for light elements and nuclear fission for heavy elements, the resultant elements have less mass than the original reacting elements (ie the mass defect) because ...
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0answers
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Why did the Lockheed Martin compact fusion reactor failed? [duplicate]
What made the compact fusion reactor to not be compact. What assumptions did lokheed made in its simulation that showed that it could work. Can we do anything that could make it work or it is ...
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2answers
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Nuclear Feedback Loop (Fusion and Fission)
What are the main factors that prevent a feedback loop being created by using a hybrid method of fission and fusion. Fusion building up to fissionable materials, and fission breaking down till fusion ...
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1answer
33 views
Is quantitative knowledge of the Standard Model useful in the development of controlled fusion?
I have read articles about quantitative knowledge of particle physics, such as energies, cross sections and particle lifetimes, gained from work at the LHC and other accelerators. Is such quantitative ...
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1answer
54 views
Why the National Ignition Facility try to use 192 laser beams to trigger ignition without heat capsule?
In the discussion of the question "Nuclear Fusion with extremely high pressure and low temperature", the conclusion is only ultrahigh pressure cannot trigger fusion.
But why does NIF try to use 192 ...
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1answer
49 views
What exactly sets the scale in Fusion power plants?
In fusion power plants, larger devices are said to achieve fusion more easily, next step tokamaks like DEMO are even larger than ITER. In a quantitative way, what exactly isn't scale invariant in a ...
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1answer
56 views
is possible to create a nuclear fusion using simple electric arc discharge?
If we have a simple discharge tube filled by deuterium gas or even heavy water, and put tungsten electrodes close to each other to create a huge electric field, then using a megavolt generator to ...
3
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1answer
128 views
Where is nuclear fusion occuring in the Sun?
My understanding is that the sun is basically a sphere of hydrogen with a helium core, and that the hydrogen is undergoing nuclear fusion to produce helium.
There are many images and cross-sectional ...
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0answers
96 views
Discussion about a new nuclear fusion design [duplicate]
Let me clarify here, this is not cold fusion. D&T gas will be compressed very rapidly and its temperature will increase very fast. So, I don't think this is a duplicate question.
I have a new ...
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0answers
35 views
Magnetic cage for keeping plasma around itself
Let's assume that we have an object in vacuum, venting hydrogen plasma around itself. This object has a powerful internal electrical source, connected to a cage of superconducting wire around it, in ...
2
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1answer
36 views
Sun's energy and grand unification
According to Wikipedia,
The approximate grand unification energy value is equal to $1×10^{25}$ eV or $10^{16}$ GeV
This is equal to $1602176$ J.
Now,
The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) ...
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1answer
517 views
Fusion confusion: what did 12 year old Jackson Oswalt do?
This kid has been showing up in news feeds, but only credulous pop media articles, not hard science reporting. What did he build, and what physics does his device do?
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0answers
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Proton-Proton, CNO, or white dwarf matter fusion reactor: Is it vaguely possible?
I understand that all efforts at present to make fusion work as an energy source have used light nuclei other than protons due to the fact that the cross section of the proton-proton reaction is just ...
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1answer
38 views
Energy budget of of proton-proton fusion (p-p chain)
How much energy is released in the first nuclear reaction of the p-p chain which produces energy in lower-mass stars like the Sun? The value of 1.44 MeV is given in many sources, but I don't ...
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1answer
28 views
By how much are various dibaryon states unbound?
It has been known for a long time that the deuteron is stable but the dineutron (nn) and diproton (pp) are not. Many textbooks comment on this, but all the ones I found so far do not give quantitative ...
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1answer
94 views
How many times do solar protons repeatedly fuse and fission before they form deuteron
In the proton-proton chain reaction in the Sun, the first step is
$$p + p \rightarrow \; ^2_2{\rm He} .$$
After this, the most likely thing to happen next is that the reverse reaction occurs: the $^...
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0answers
46 views
Can we overcome or mitigate the electrostatic force?
After reading this answer and reading a bit more about fusion, I wondered, is there a way to mitigate the electrostatic force between two nuclei so fusion could take place at lower energies?
For ...
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1answer
66 views
Is it 'easier' to fuse heavier elements than light ones?
After reading this answer, I wondered the title question. It seems part of our difficulty in harnessing fusion power is controlling the hydrogen and helium (plasma?) while fusion is taking place, i.e. ...
94
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11answers
14k views
Why do fusion and fission both release energy?
I only have high school physics knowledge, but here is my understanding:
Fusion: 2 atoms come together to form a new atom. This process releases the energy keeping them apart, and is very energetic. ...
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2answers
73 views
Do only 'giant stars' fuse large amounts of elements other than hydrogen and helium?
Do only giant stars initiate 'full-on' carbon (and higher element) fusion, even though red giants on the larger end of the spectrum create carbon and oxygen via producing helium per the CNO cycle?
3
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4answers
101 views
Electronically controlled fusion reactor
It seems that currently, only two types of fusion reactor styles are being used for large scale testing: the Stellarator and the Tokamak. Both of these and a whole bunch of other designs have been ...
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1answer
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Gamma Photons vs. Muons; Which is more expensive [closed]
Which one takes more energy to produce?
I ask as I theorize that keeping the plasma in a fusion reactor is very expensive.
Muons, while useful, are too short lived.
Maybe... Keeping the plasma at ...
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2answers
37 views
How do electrons rearrange themselves after a fusion reaction?
The hydrogen atoms can fused inside Sun core into helium without considering about the free electrons, however what about special* cases where two neutrally charged hydrogen atoms collide and fused ...
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1answer
64 views
Forming a Neutron Star: inverse $\beta^-$ decay or electron capture?
There are three different kinds of beta decays:
$\beta^-$: n $\rightarrow$ p + e$^-$ + $\overline{\nu}_{e^-}$
$\beta^+$: p $\rightarrow$ n + e$^+$ + $\nu_{e}$
electron capture: p + e$^-$ $\rightarrow$...
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1answer
77 views
Question about China's Artificial Sun
I have read recently in many websites dedicated to science that China has made an artificial sun hotter than the 'sun'. My question is how did they make a thing that can withstand such a high ...
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2answers
137 views
Lead catalyzed fusion
Consider the following setup:
A beam of deuterons is accelerated towards a lead target. With sufficient acceleration (in the MeV range, nothing fancy...), I would expect some of the deuterons to fuse ...
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0answers
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How could someone calculate the coulomb barrier transparency in 3 dimensions [duplicate]
Transparency is also called probability of transmission, or probability of quantum tunneling.
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0answers
57 views
What is the probability of fusion reaction happening with energy less than the coulomb barrier (probability of reacting nuclei quantum tunneling)?
$ E_{out} = 4 \pi n_1 n_2 (m_0-m_a) c^2{(\frac {m}{2k_B T})}^{3/2} \int_0^ \infty \sigma(v) v^2 e^{\frac {-mv^2}{2k_B T}} dv$
$m_0$ is the sum masses of the reacting nuclei, $m_a$ is the sum masses ...
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2answers
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How do we contain nuclear fusion?
I understand that here on earth we create fusion at temperatures that are much hotter then our sun. What I want to know is how we contain those high temperatures safely. Also if any one can give an ...
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2answers
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Does converting rest mass to energy instantly change the gravitational attraction it exerts?
Let there be two hydrogen atoms having 1.1 mass each. We use solar fusion to convert the two hydrogen plasma to helium with a mass of 2 and 0.2 gamma radiation.
Before the fusion process gravity was ...
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4answers
109 views
Fusion methodologies
Forgive my naivety but it seems to me all the attempts to create useful fusion concentrate on high temps or high pressures or both and samples of fusible material consisting of multiple nuclei.
Is ...
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2answers
61 views
Biggest Fundamental Force Examples? [closed]
I know that this question sounds confusing but listen well, What I am asking which phenomenon that happens anywhere in the universe that best represents the four fundamental forces. Nuclear Fusion, ...
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1answer
57 views
Using coil gun make two mass of lithium deuteride collide and start nuclear fusion
We already have hydrogen bomb, why controllable nuclear fusion so difficult? And why controllable necessary?
If we can detonate a tiny hydrogen bomb， we can collect the energy, like laser nuclear ...
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2answers
148 views
Nuclear Fusion Proton-Proton Chain
When hydrogen nuclei are able to overcome the coulomb forces, two protons collide. As a result, one of them decays into a neutron and a positron and electron neutrino are emitted. However, isn't mass ...
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1answer
67 views
auto-refilled nuclear fusion generator [closed]
I read in a science article that in a nuclear fusion reactor, the energy we bring to the reaction is multiplied by a coefficient q. This coefficient needs to be at a certain level (around 7 if my ...
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0answers
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Why the nuclear fusion 6Li+D and 7Li+P reactions happens 10 time less than H+11B?
The first two reactions generates 2 alphas and the boron one generates 3, but boron has 2 more protons than lithium so should repels more to hydrogen.
I suppose is a question of nuclear states, but ...
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1answer
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Form of energy release
I know that fusion and fission can be esothermic processes if they happen between the "right" elements (meaning, indicatively, lighter/heavier than iron respectively). I always thought I got this ...
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2answers
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How is fusion reactor fuel initially accelerated?
If, in a nuclear fusion tokamak reactor, you start with neutral fuels, how do you accelerate the atoms fast enough to start the reactor?
Or do all of the particles have to ionized to begin with?
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1answer
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Ideal MHD stability with a Fourier analyzed perturbation
I'm learning through the basics of ideal MHD instabilities and the textbook (Friedberg, Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy, 12.4-12.6) writes the linearized momentum equation in terms of the ...
