If you take a universe worth of hydrogen and helium, and let it stew for about 13 billion years, you get us. We are the descendants of the primeval elements. We are the cast-off dust of the first stars, and many generations ...
Astronomy
Sep 22, 2023
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The process that powers the stars—nuclear fusion—is proposed as a future power source for humanity and could provide clean and renewable energy free of the radioactive waste associated with current nuclear fission plants.
Plasma Physics
Sep 1, 2023
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Scientists have found a mathematical shortcut that could help harness fusion energy, a potential source of clean electricity that could mitigate floods, heat waves, and other rising effects of climate change. The method allows ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 17, 2023
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US scientists responsible for a historic nuclear fusion breakthrough say they have repeated the feat—this time achieving a greater yield of energy.
General Physics
Aug 7, 2023
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Humans may never be able to tame the sun, but hydrogen plasma—making up most of the sun's interior—can be confined in a magnetic field as part of fusion power generation: with a caveat.
Plasma Physics
Jul 27, 2023
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299
A trio of astrophysicists, two from Colgate University and the third from the University of Texas, has found evidence of dark stars courtesy of data from the James Webb Space Telescope. In their study, reported in Proceedings ...
New research published in Science Advances, led by Yuan Yang, associate professor of materials science at Columbia Engineering, and collaborators at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, demonstrates a novel technique for isolating ...
Analytical Chemistry
Jul 13, 2023
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23
The first stars of the universe were very different than the stars we see today. They were made purely of hydrogen and helium, without heavier elements to help them generate energy in their core. As a result, they were likely ...
Astronomy
Jun 26, 2023
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In astronomy, elements other than hydrogen and helium are called metals. While that might make your high-school chemistry teacher cringe, it makes sense for astronomers. The two lightest elements were the first to appear ...
Astronomy
Jun 12, 2023
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New research findings on the gamma-ray burst (GRB) named GRB 221009A from the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) were published online by the journal Science on June 8, 2023. The study, titled "A tera-electron ...
Astronomy
Jun 9, 2023
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In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple like-charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus. It is accompanied by the release or absorption of energy, which allows matter to enter a plasma state.
The fusion of two nuclei with lower mass than iron (which, along with nickel, has the largest binding energy per nucleon) generally releases energy while the fusion of nuclei heavier than iron absorbs energy; vice-versa for the reverse process, nuclear fission. In the simplest case of hydrogen fusion, two protons have to be brought close enough for their mutual electric repulsion to be overcome by the nuclear force and the subsequent release of energy.
Nuclear fusion occurs naturally in stars. Artificial fusion in human enterprises has also been achieved, although has not yet been completely controlled. Building upon the nuclear transmutation experiments of Ernest Rutherford done a few years earlier, fusion of light nuclei (hydrogen isotopes) was first observed by Mark Oliphant in 1932; the steps of the main cycle of nuclear fusion in stars were subsequently worked out by Hans Bethe throughout the remainder of that decade. Research into fusion for military purposes began in the early 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project, but was not successful until 1952. Research into controlled fusion for civilian purposes began in the 1950s, and continues to this day.
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