History
It has been a well-accepted fact that the sun is a source of great power since the early part of this century. In 1929, scientists first theorized that the energy production in stars was created by fusion: nuclear reactions involving light elements reacting to form heavier elements. By the late thirties, H. Bethe had analyzed most of our sun's nuclear fusion cycle. Fusion in our sun is caused when deuterium and tritium, both Hydrogen isotopes, react (in the presence of large amounts of heat) to form Helium, energy, and an extra neutron.
Man-made fusion reactions were thought to be impossible until the first uncontrolled fusion reactions were witnessed when nuclear bombs known as "George" and "Mike" were detonated in 1951 and 1952, respectively. Efforts to control fusion energy began in the 1950s. By 1955 scientists had witnessed the enormity of the task. A successful fusion reaction would not only require temperatures in excess of 50x106 K, but would also need to be isolated for a long enough time so the reaction could produce more energy than required to begin the reaction. The most promising fuels for fusion reactions are deuterium, and tritium. Deuterium and tritium both are hydrogen isotopes. Deuterium is a stable isotope and is naturally found in water, while tritium is very unstable, radioactive, and must be man-made. Several methods for containment exist. They include the Tokamak generator, inertial containment, and mirror confinement.
The Tokamak
Problems with early power plants led to the development of the Tokamak. An old design, known as the linear pinch method, suffered from large energy losses at the ends of the plant and macroscopic plasma instabilities. To overcome these problems, a new design ...
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...llion degrees, the fuel ignites and fusion occurs. The reaction then spreads through the compressed capsule, producing energy several times greater than what was deposited by the beams.
The majority of research so far involving this type of fusion has dealt with laser beams. These powerful flashes of light, with varied wavelengths and duration, are focused on the capsule to initiate fusion. However, our modern lasers are very inefficient. To be used in a commercial fusion plant, laser technology would first have to greatly improve. Another option in Inertial Confinement is ion beams instead of lasers. The ion beams are much more efficient, but are still very experimental. The biggest problem is the beam's short span. An intense enough beam to cause the reaction only lasts about 10 nanoseconds. To compensate, scientists must compress the beam and make it stronger.
Whereby, early magnetic coolers were used to achieve extreme cryogenic temperatures [11]. This magnetic cycle is equivalent to the Carnot cycle for vapor compression systems, shown in Fig.(1.8).
All these effects were the cause of the discovery of nuclear fission and its properties. Nuclear Fusion Nuclear fusion is the process used by the sun and the stars in our solar system to produce their energy. Fusion involves smashing hydrogen atoms together at high velocities to form helium, and the matter is made into energy.
Albert Einstein predicted that mass could be converted into energy early in the century and was confirmed experimentally by John D. Cockcroft and Ernest Walton in 1932. In 1939, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discovered that neutrons striking the element uranium caused the atoms to split apart. Physicists found out that among the pieces of a split atom were newly produced neutrons. These might encounter other uranium nuclei, caused them to split, and start a chain reaction. If the chain reaction were limited to a moderate pace, a new source of energy could be the result. The chain reaction could release energy rapidly and with explosive force.
Cost and availability of fuel is a considerable factor when dealing with nuclear power. Fission requires an element that can be easily split in a particle accelerator, such as uranium or plutonium. Fusion, on the other hand, uses isotopes of hydrogen atoms, specifically deuterium and tritium, that can be obtained from ordinary water. Uranium ores occur naturally in many parts of the world but must go through a costly purification process before used as fuel. The unprocessed ore contains approximately 99.3% uranium-238, a non-fissionable isotope of uranium, and only about 0.7% of U-235 required for fission. One hydrogen atom out of 6700 appears as deuterium, a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen with an extra neutron, and can easily be separated from the rest. Uranium-235 is a non-renewable resource that will eventually run out, much like the fossil fuels. The abundance of deuterium and lithium provide a virtually unlimited supply of fuel for nuclear fusion. Therefore, nuclear fusion seems to be the better choice.
Harris, Tom. “How Building Implosions Work.” HowStuffWorks. A Discovery Co., 13 Jan. 2012. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. .
· A good fuel should produce a lot of heat energy and use a small
Particle physics deals with the study of the smallest, most intricate objects of nature. Examples of these particles include the atom (10-10 m), nucleus (10-14 m), and quarks (less than 10-19 m) (Ekeren, 2013). These fundamental particles trace back to the moments after the Big Bang. As a way to explore how our universe evolved to what is in existence now, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, abbreviated as CERN, built the world’s most powerful particle accelerator during 1998 and 2008 – the Large Hadron Collider, or, the LHC. (STFC, n.d.). The LHC is the last element of the chain of accelerator complex present in CERN. The accelerator complex consists of a sequence of machines with increasingly higher energies (CERN, 2009). In the LHC, each particle beam injected is accelerated up to 7 TeV (electronvolt) of energy. The LHC is composed of different experimental halls which are intended for different purposes which will be discussed further in this paper. Physicists believes that the energy density and temperature data gathered from the collision experiments at the LHC will be able to demonstrate what existed within the moments after the Big Bang, to provide an example for its data’s use. They recreate and simulate these experiments inside the 27 km accelerator through beam collision of beams of high-energy protons or ions which travel at the speed of light, or 300 million meters per second (STFC, n.d.; US/LHC, 2012).
Our Sun continuously converts hydrogen into helium and with this process it provides the essentials for life processes. In doing this it controls “our climate, provides light, raises tides, and drives the food chain” (Schaefer 34). Our Sun also has influenced many beliefs now and in the past. History has documented Sun worshipping religions while many current societies use solar calendars (Schaefer 34).
Our sun is the central pivot point to which or entire planet and solar system is built around. With out it all life on our planet would cease to exist. Within this paper we will explore how our Sun and solar system formed and came to resemble what we see today.
Saravanamutto, H. I. H., Rogers, G. F. C., Cohen, H., & Straznicky, P. V. (2009). Gas turbine theory (6th ed.). London, UK: Prentice Hall.
deal of energy is required, most of which appeared as heat in the target. As a
One of the biggest and most prevalent problems is the need for clean, renewable, sustainable energy. On the forefront of these problems comes the following solutions: nuclear energy, hydro-electric energy, and photovoltaic energy. With the need for energy in today’s current world, exploring different ways of producing power is necessary. The differences and similarities between nuclear energy and alternative energy are important to look over and examine in depth, so that it is plain to see the positive and negative effects of energy production. To begin, nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission, which is the splitting of an atom to start a chain reaction (“11 Facts”).
Schultz, James. "Force Fields and 'Plasma' Shields Get Closer to Reality." Technology 25 July 2000: 20 pars. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .
Whilst there are clear arguments for and against nuclear energy, the future is promising; with scientists working on potential breakthroughs such as nuclear fusion, and the design of newer and better and reactors. Nuclear fusion is a reaction which causes the nuclei of atoms to collide and form a new atomic nucleus. It is essentially what heats the sun and stars and would produce no long-lived radioactive waste.22 If scientists could control the process of atomic fusion then it could become a never ending energy source for future use.
For years man has relied on energy in order to be successful in life. The industrial revolution relied on coal for the new inventions brought into the world. Life as has never been the same since then. However since that time, there has been little done to improve on energy efficiency and humans still primarily rely on fossil fuels for energy. For over a hundred years the Earth has become more polluted and dirtier than ever before. Now, with new, innovative technology there is an opportunity to change that and to rely on renewable, cleaner sources of energy. The main source of energy for the world should be alternative energy instead of energy from fossil fuels.