![]() ![]() The sun weighs about 333,000 times more than Earth does. Fusion converts more mass into energy per reaction than fission does. Fusion, by contrast, is when atoms merge together. Nuclear reactors perform fission, which involves splitting atoms apart. ITER Organization Don't our nuclear power plants already do fusion? C is a constant number that is the speed of light in a vacuum.)Īn illustration of the ITER machine, which, if all goes well, will be doing fusion by 2027. This is perfectly acceptable according to Einstein's famous E = mc 2 equation, which says that mass can turn into pure energy and vice versa. When two atoms fuse, they lose a bit of their mass, which is released as energy. Researchers who work on fusion energy are essentially trying to make tiny stars here on Earth. This process is what powers the sun and makes it so hot and bright. Thermonuclear fusion is the process that occurs when two atoms combine to make a larger atom, creating a whole lot of energy.įusion already happens naturally in stars - including the sun - when intense pressure and heat fuse hydrogen atoms together, generating helium and energy. So here's a guide to how far humanity has come on thermonuclear fusion - and how far we still have to go. Still, the potential pay-off is so massive that countries have sunk billions and billions of dollars into fusion research. Trouble is, the scientific and technical hurdles ahead are still enormous - in fact, we still don't have a full grasp on what all the hurdles might be. Occasionally, they even make some advances - as happened this past winter, when a group of scientists got closer to fusion power than they ever had before. And the promise of fusion power has led researchers to try their best for decades upon decades. Nuclear fusion already takes place in the sun's core, after all. If we could get fusion power to work, we'd never have to worry about energy again The process is called thermonuclear fusion, and if we could ever get fusion power to work - a big if - we'd never have to worry about our energy problems again. In theory, it's possible to shoot some energy at hydrogen and get even more energy back. ![]()
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