what do you know about nuclear fusion?

Question

do you think that we would be able to achieve it before the end of this century?

Answer 1

We have achieved it in H bombs.

What we need to do is to achieve it in a controllable fashion. It is doable, but there is not much incentive as long as oil is still a cheap way to pollute the planet.

The problems appear to be technical rather than scientific. We understand what needs to be done; we do not yet have the right tools to achieve the required conditions.

There are two approaches:

Get the atoms hot enough so that their kinetic energy will cause nuclei to collide directly and fuse
or
Get the density high enough so that the nuclei are forced into each other and fuse.
(and, of course, combine both methods)

In each case, we even understand how to make the process more likely to succeed (for example, by using deuterium or tritium instead of plain hydrogen).

It is just that 15 million degrees (or the equivalent in kinetic energy or density or pressure or...) is not that easy to achieve.

Answer 2

sorry to the awnsers above... you are wrong thats FISSION your talking about not FUSSION. I will awnser this since I just saw a show on science channel yesterday about it. Basically its briging out the very high power of elements by bonding there molecules together. you need a temperature of like 2 million degrees to do this its a really hard process and all that etc.also it to make use of it supposedly we need helium 3 which is about as ultra rare a a element you can get ever. its only made in miniscule amounts from discarded nuclear arms and other then that its in great quantitys on the moon in the rocks. there is even ppl that are trying to setup some sort of mining operation from moon to earth just for the precious element. 1 metric ton of helium 3 supposedly could power a city of like san fran or another large city of comparison for a year.

Answer 3

We have achieved fusion already so I believe you are talking about fusion reactors or power plants.

If the will is there, then yes, we will achieve it. It's really only a matter of spending the money necessary to do the research. ITER, ( http://www.iter.org/ ), is a step in that direction.

Answer 4

Is it fusion or fission?
And in any case, you might mean "control" f..sion that needs to be achieved.

Answer 5

we have already acheived nuclear fusion.
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_generator

this is however at 120 000 000ºK, ie very high