Arindam Banerjee, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics at Lehigh University, studies the dynamics of materials in extreme environments. He and his team have built several devices to effectively investigate ...
Soft Matter
May 08, 2019
1
68
If you're chasing the elusive goal of nuclear fusion and think you need a bigger reactor to do the job, you first might want to know precisely how much input energy emerging from the wall plug is making it to the heart of ...
General Physics
Apr 11, 2019
0
9
A team of experts in atomic physics, nuclear fusion, and astronomy has computed high-accuracy atomic data for analyzing light from a kilonova, a birth place of heavy elements. They found that their new data set could predict ...
Astronomy
Mar 12, 2019
0
235
Since the invention of the periodic table 150 years ago this month, scientists have worked to fill in the rows of elements and make sense of their properties.
Astronomy
Feb 08, 2019
0
52
Harnessing nuclear fusion, which powers the sun and stars, to help meet earth's energy needs, is a step closer after researchers showed that using two types of imaging can help them assess the safety and reliability of parts ...
Plasma Physics
Dec 04, 2018
0
11
A study led by Texas Tech University shows that supersoft X-ray emissions can come from accretion as well as nuclear fusion.
Astronomy
Dec 04, 2018
5
1598
Nuclear fusion, the release of energy when light atomic nuclei merge, is touted as a carbon-free solution to global energy requirements. One potential route to nuclear fusion is inertial confinement. Now a KAUST-led team ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 02, 2018
0
5
An international joint research group led by Osaka University demonstrated that it was possible to efficiently heat plasma by focusing a relativistic electron beam (REB) accelerated by a high-intensity, short-pulse laser ...
Plasma Physics
Sep 26, 2018
15
108
A group of scientists at the University of Tokyo has recorded the largest magnetic field ever generated indoors—a whopping 1,200 tesla, as measured in the standard units of magnetic field strength.
General Physics
Sep 17, 2018
0
841
Osaka University-led researchers demonstrated that the perturbation of laser imprinting on a capsule for nuclear fusion fuel made from stiff and heavy materials was mitigated. Using the latest chemical vapor deposition (CVD) ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 09, 2018
0
3
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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
