The Fusion Process


While fission is the process of an atom splitting into two smaller atoms, fusion is the opposite. Two smaller atoms are fused together to create a larger atom, also releasing enormous amounts of energy. Energy is given to the reaction so that the positively charged atoms can overcome the repulsive force the atoms naturally exert on each other, thus fusing together. An example of a fusion reaction is the one that takes place in the sun, where four hydrogen atoms are fused together to form a helium nucleus and two positrons. This reaction produces 24.7 MeV of energy. On earth however, the reaction that will most likely be used in the first fusion reactor is the fusion of deuterium and tritium to form helium and a neutron. However, the earth does not have the availability of extremely high temperatures such as the sun, that allow the fusion reaction to so easily take place in the sun. The deuterium-tritium reaction requires a temperature greater than 100,000,000 K to provide the required heat energy for the two atoms to overcome their repulsive forces. In addition to achieving the required temperature, the plasma that is created must also be kept together at that temperature long enough to produce more useful energy than was needed to produce the temperature initially.[2] The ongoing research into fusion is very important, since the fuels used in fission will get harder to find, while deuterium and tritium are comparatively much easier to obtain.



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