How does nuclear fusion work?
When two atoms of a light element such as hydrogen are heated and combine to form a single heavier element such as helium, the nuclear reaction produces massive amounts of energy which can be captured.
But getting two identical elements to combine is actually very hard.
Because they have the same positive charge they naturally repel each other.
A lot of energy is needed to overcome this resistance.
In the Sun, this happens thanks to extremely high temperatures of around ten million degrees Celsius, and significant pressure – more than 100 billion times that of the Earth’s atmosphere.
On Earth, scientists have used various different techniques to attempt to recreate these conditions.
But it has proved very difficult to maintain the high temperature and pressure needed for long enough.
The US’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) has announced it successfully used a 192-beam laser to turn a tiny amount of hydrogen into enough energy to power about 15 – 20 kettles.
This means that – for the first time – scientists were able to generate more power than the lasers put in to the experiment.
sky radio 20 