Why Nuclear Fusion Is So Cool

……. Essay, Research Paper

Why nuclear fusion is so cool……. For a fusion reaction to take place, the nuclei, which are positively charged, must have enough kinetic energy to overcome their electrostatic force of repulsion. This can occur either when one nucleus is accelerated to high energies by an accelerating device, or when the energies of both nuclei are raised by the application of very high temperature. The latter method, referred to the application of thermonuclear fusion, is the source of a lot of really cool energy. Enough energy is produced in thermonuclear fusion to suck the paint of 1 city block of houses and give all of the residents permanent orange Afros. The sun is a example of thermonuclear fusion in nature. If I was a atom, I could only wish to be in a thermonuclear reaction. Thermonuclear reactions occur when a proton is accelerated and collides with another proton and then the two protons fuse, forming a deuterium nucleus which has a proton, neutrino and lots of energy. I have no idea what a deuterium nucleus is, but is must be 10 times cooler than just a regular nucleus. Such a reaction is not self sustaining because the released energy is not readily imparted to other nuclei. thermonuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium will produce a helium nucleus and an energetic neutron that can help sustain further fusion. This is the basic principal of the hydrogen bomb which employs a brief, controlled thermonuclear fusion reaction. This was also how the car in the Back to the Future movie worked. It had a much more sophisticated system of producing a fusion reaction from things like, old coffee grounds, bananas, and old beer cans. Thermonuclear reactions depend on high energies, and the possibility of a low-temperature nuclear fusion has generally been discounted. Little does the scientific community know about my experiments. I have produced cold fusion in my basement with things like: stale bread, milk, peanut butter and flat Pepsi. I have been able to produce a ten-megaton reaction which as little as a saltine cracker and some grass clippings. But enough about my discoveries. Early in 1989 two electrochemists startled the scientific world by claiming to achieve a room-temperature fusion in a simple laboratory. They had little proof to back up their discovery, and were not credited with their so-called accomplishment. The two scientists were Stanley Pons of the university of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton in England. They described their experiment as involving platinum electrodes an electrochemical cell in which palladium and platinum were immersed in heavy water. These two losers said that the cell produced more heat than could be accounted for. Yeah right!! The week before I was talking to both men on the phone and I told them about all of the cool things you could do with platinum. I said “Now Martin, what you need to do is get your hands on some platinum and some heavy Mexican drinking water. The amount of chemicals in the Mexican drinking water is sure to cause a violent reaction with the platinum electrodes and produce lots of energy. I have been doing this sort of things in my basement for years.” When I told him that though that NASA could power their shuttles with this sort of a reaction, he nearly wet his pants. Now as usual, I received no credit for MY discovery, but that is ok..I have grown used to it. I taught Einstein, Newton, and Ron Popeel (inventor of things like the pasto-matic, hair-in-a-can, and the pocket fisherman) everything they know. Besides, the two shmucks didn t even follow my instructions for the experiment. However, until I reveal my secrets about cold fusion, it will remain only a proposed theory. nuclear fusion is also what powers the rest of the stars in the solar system. Stars carry out fusion in a thermonuclear manner. Thermonuclear is a really cool word which I am going to use several more times just because it is so cool. In a thermonuclear reaction matter is forced to exist in only in a plasma state, consisting of electrons, positive ions and very few neutral atoms. Fusion reactions that occur within a plasma serve to heat it further, because the portion of the reaction product is transferred to the bulk of the plasma through collisions. In the deuterium-tritium reaction the positively charged helium nucleus carries 3.5 MeV. The neutron escaped the plasma with little interaction and , in a reaction, could deposit its 14.1 MeV in a surrounding lithium blanket. I have know idea what that last sentence meat, but I am going to memorize it, because I will sound super smart if I tell someone about the neutrons activity in a plasma thermonuclear reaction. The neutrons activity would breed tritium and also heat as a exchange medium which could be used to produce steam to turn generator turbines. However, the plasma also loses thermal energy though a variety of processes: conduction, convection, and bremsstrachlng which is electromagnetic radiation about 1000 times stronger than the microwave in your kitchen. Bermsstrachlng is the electromagnetic energy which is produced by the deceleration of a charged particle. Energy also escapes in the reaction through line radiation from electrons undergoing level transitions in heavier impurities, and through losses of hot nuclei that capture an election and escape and confining field. Ignition occurs when the energy deposited within the plasma by fusion reactions equals