Energy nuclear fusion

See also Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy, Historical Evolution of the Use of Nuclear Fission Nuclear Fusion. 

See also Nuclear Energy Nuclear Fission Nuclear Fusion. 

See also Einstein, Albert Hydrogen Molecular Energy Nuclear Energy Nuclear Fission Nuclear Fusion Thermodynamics Units of Energy. 

In an attempt to develop the hydrogen bomb before the Russians, a second weapons laboratory , Lawrence Livermore, was established in July 1952 to handle the additional work that would be necessaiy to stay ahead of the Russian nuclear weapons program. The administrator chosen was the University of California. Eor the next forty-five years, this LLNL was a formidable competitor to Los Alamos in the development of nuclear weapons. But much like most of the other major national laboratories, its focus also shifted away from nuclear weapons to basic science to fields like magnetic and laser fusion energy, non-nuclear energy, biomedicine, and environmental science. By the late 1990s, half of the laboratoi y s budget was nonde-fense related as the shift away from nuclear weapons continued. 

Since the earliest days of the atomic age, physicists and engineers have predicted the coming of practicable nuclear fusion within ten years or a generation. Histoi y therefore offers many reasons to be skeptical about the promise of nuclear energy. At the same time, this unparalleled form of energy is not going to return to the Pandora s box pried open by the Manhattan Project more than a half century ago. 

See also Electric Power, Generation of Environmental Problems and Energy Use Explosives and Propellants Meitner, Lise Military Energy Use, Historical Aspects of Molecular Energy Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy, Historical Evolution of the Use of Nuclear Fission Fuel Nuclear Fusion Nuclear Waste. 

A more constructive approach to nuclear fusion—one that achieves a controlled release of nuclear energy—is to heat a plasma, or ionized gas, by passing an electric current through it. The very fast ions in the plasma are kept away from the walls of the container with magnetic fields. This method of achieving fusion is the subject of intense research and is beginning to show signs of success (Fig. 17.27). 

What are the opportunities for using forms of energy that do not lead to CO2 formation Nuclear power from fission reactors presents problems with the handling and deposition of nuclear waste. Fusion reactors are more appealing, but may need several decades of further development. However, solar and wind energy offer realistic alternatives. 

Nuclear energy in almost inconceivable quantities can be obtained from nuclear fission and fusion reactions according to Einstein s famous equation. 

Nuclear fusion processes derive energy from the formation of low-mass nuclei, which have a different binding energy. Fusion of two nuclear particles produces a new nucleus that is lighter in mass than the masses of the two fusing particles. This mass defect is then interchangeable in energy via Einstein s equation E = me2. Specifically, the formation of an He nucleus from two protons and two neutrons would be expected to have mass ... 

Helium is also the result of fusion reactions wherein the nuclei of heavy hydrogen are fused to form atoms of hehum. The result is the release of great amounts of energy. Fusion is the physical or nuclear reaction (not chemical reaction) that takes place in the sun and in thermonuclear weapons (e.g., the hydrogen bomb). 

Edward Teller, one of the brilliant physicists who fied Hungary before the war and a key member of the Los Alamos team, had no doubts about the right course of action. He urged the US government to pursue the idea he had discussed with Fermi in 1942 a superbomb that liberated nuclear energy not by fission but by fusion. The fusion bomb creates, for a blinding instant, an artificial sun. 

The fourth method of generation of energy is nuclear. Nuclear energy may be generated by die fission (splitting) of the atoms of certain elements and by the fusion (or joining together) of the nuclei of certain elements. 

The nuclear reaction that finally stabilizes the structure of the protostar is the fusion of two protons to form a deuterium atom, a positron, and a neutrino (1 H(p,p+v)2D). This reaction becomes important at a temperature of a few million degrees. The newly produced deuterium then bums to 3He, which in turn bums to 4He in the proton-proton chain. The proton-proton chain is the main source of nuclear energy in the Sun. With the initiation of hydrogen burning... 

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