preview

Nuclear Fusion Essay examples

Decent Essays
Open Document

The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. Human and animal labor could not provide the power necessary to power industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. Usually coal, petrolium, and natural gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the total energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted faster than they are being replenished, which could …show more content…

Unlike solids, liquids, and gasses, plasmas have no electrons surrounding the nuclei of its atoms.

Scientists have been trying for many years to build nuclear reactors that would allow a sustained fusion reaction to occur. There are several factors that influence a fusion reaction. Since very high kinetic energies are needed for nuclei to fuse, the plasma in which fusion occurs is extremely hot. Temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees celsius are required for the easiest fusion reaction to take place. Plasmas are fluids, and therefore they have no permanent shape and will quickly disperse if not confined. A 100 million degree plasma will vaporise any container in which it is placed, so magnetic fields are used to contain the plasma.

Since the electrons are stripped from the atoms in a plasma, all that remains is the positively charged nucleus, which can be acted on by magnetic fields. In magnetic confinement reactors, so-called magnetic bottles are created with magnetic fields that confine the plasma. In experiments, however, plasmas can only be contained for a few seconds before their oscilations cause them to come into contact with the walls of the reactor. The biggest problem in controlling plasmas with magnetic confinement is their chaotic behaivior. With continuing research, longer containment times are being recorded.

Inertial confinement reactors use a different approach. Small fuel pellets containing isotopes of

Get Access
Related
Get Access