Nuclear fusion

• Nuclear fusion


  1. Two lighter nuclei join or fuse to form a single larger nuclei

  2. Example: two hydrogen nuclei like hydrogen one and hydrogen two could fuse together to form helium-3
• Nuclear fusion releases tons of energy
• Nuclear fusion is the process that fuels stars
• All elements heavier than hydrogen were made through the process of nuclear fusion
• In nuclear fusion


  Some of the mass of the original nuclei is being converted to energy rather than transferred to the new nucleus
• The helium nuclei will be very slightly lighter than the total mass of the two hydrogen nuclei
• E=mc^2


  Equation that tells us that the energy released is equal to the mass that's being lost multiplied by the speed of light squared
• Nuclear fusion doesn't produce any radioactive waste
• Hydrogen can be easily made as a fuel for nuclear fusion
• Nuclear fusion only happens at really high temperatures and pressures, around 10 million degrees Celsius
• We can't currently do nuclear fusion on Earth, but there is a lot of experimental research going into discovering how to do it
• Nuclear fusion


  The fusing of light nuclei to make heavier nuclei, which releases tons of energy
• Nuclear fission


  The splitting of large unstable nuclei into two smaller nuclei, which still produces lots of energy but nowhere near as much as fusion
• Nuclear fission is the process we use on Earth to generate electricity