![]() ![]() ![]() What is the Difference Between Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion?Īccording to Energy.Gov, fission and fusion ate two physical processes producing energy from atoms.įission splits a larger atom into two or more smaller atoms, while fusion fuses or joins two or more lighter atoms into a larger and heavier atom.įission uses as fuel, fossil fuels, mainly Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239, and recently Thorium-232. This means that humanity already managed to create and maintain here on the planet a temperature that is over ten times hotter than the Sun. In May, 2021, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in China, managed to achieve and maintain for 101 seconds a plasma temperature of 120 million ☌, and a temperature of 160 million ☌ for another 20 seconds. Reaching such an impressive temperature in a nuclear fusion reactor here on the planet would overcome the Coulomb force, and will make the nuclei fuse to produce a heavier nucleus with the release of huge amounts of energy. Less heat is needed if more pressure is available.īecause here on Earth, we can’t replicate the humongous pressure in the Sun’s core (265 billion bar), we have to increase the temperature up to 150 million ☌. This happens by speeding up the atomic nuclei, and to achieve this, they are subjected to great heat and/or pressure. Like fission, nuclear fusion needs a force to overcome the Coulomb force. ![]() If we talk about their nucleus, the Coulomb force is responsible for the fact that similarly charged particles repel each other. If we force two hydrogen atoms together, they will repel each other due to their similar charge (+). Hydrogen is so light because in its nucleus, we find only one proton (protons are positively charged composite particles). Nuclear fusion only works with smaller atoms like hydrogen. During this process, matter is not conserved because some of the matter of the fusing nuclei is converted to photons, which produces the light.ĭuring the thermonuclear reaction (fusion) a huge amount of energy is released under the form of heat and light. Nuclear fusion can also be found in the Sun because this is the nuclear reaction that powers our star and fuses four atoms of hydrogen to produce one atom of helium.įusion in the Sun is a nuclear reaction that makes atomic nuclei of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) collide at a high speed and join to form a new type of atomic nucleus (helium) and one neutron. ![]()
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