Physics Central – Fusion Finally on the Horizon?
Physics Central – Fusion Finally on the Horizon?
21 March 2012
If you’re betting that we will one day rely on clean nuclear fusion for our growing energy needs, your odds are getting a lot better thanks to a laser-based technique called Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF).
For many people, nuclear fusion is the ultimate alternative to dirty, planet-destroying fossil fuels and tsunami-vulnerable fission plants. The fact that we can look to the sun to see fusion in action makes it seem so easy, safe, and wholesome. There’s just one small problem – stars can only shine if they’re really, really big because you need lots of gravity to hold the churning mass of hydrogen and helium together tightly enough for fusion to take place.
Because we can’t rely on gravity to squeeze fusion fuel together down here on Earth, physicists have been working on a number of alternatives. For the past half century or so most of the focus has been on using magnetic fields to confine gas-like plasmas of super hot hydrogen.
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