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Asked by anon-234170 to Mark, Liam on 10 Nov 2019.
Question: how hard is it to make a nuclear reaction?
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Liam Gaffney answered on 10 Nov 2019: last edited 10 Nov 2019 10:25 pm
Nuclear reactions happen all of the time in stars, that’s what makes them shine. But on earth, it’s much harder to do it. You need to accelerate atoms so they’re travelling well over a million miles per hour and keep them inside a vacuum so that the air doesn’t slow them down. If you can do that and aim them at a target, there’s then still only a *tiny* chance that you’ll get a reaction as 99.9% of the atom is just empty space; the nucleus just passes straight through without reacting. To increase our chances of getting a reaction, we usually send millions or billions of atoms every second onto the target.
Comments
Felix commented on :
I work at a facility that is attempting to make a fusion reactor, our current reactor the Joint European Torus took around 5 years to make and we have constantly been adding bits and upgrading since it opened in 1984. It is currently estimated to be at least 10 more years before a full fusion power plant can be made.
anon-231779 commented on :
NOICE