Nuclear Fusion Essay -- physics nuclear fusion

The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. kind-hearted and animal labor could not provide the tycoon necessary to provide industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. commonly coal, petrolium, and essential gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the impart energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted alacritous than they are being replenished, which could result in an energy crisis. nuclear fission produces highly radioactive waste that is expensive to dispose of properly. Nuclear spinal federation reactors would produce much less radioactive waste and would be mo re(prenominal) efficient than nuclear fission, but to date there have been no nuclear fusion reactors that have generated usable energy output. Why is fusion power, which could be very beneficial, so hard to come by? Nuclear fusion occurs when two atomic nuclei collide with enough energy to beat together to form one nucleus. Nuclear fusion occurs in the shopping mall of our sun, and is the source of its tremendous heat. In the sun hydrogen nuclei, single protons, blend in together and form a new nucleus. In the conversion, a niggling amount of mass is converted into energy. It is this energy that heats the sun.For nuclear fusion to occur, nuclei must(prenominal) have very high kinetic energies that will exceed the electrostatic repulsion between the nuclei. The extremely high temperature of the sun causes electrons to be bleak o... ...Power from nuclear fusion reactors would be a welcome work for the 21st century, and at the current rate of progress it seems likely that so oner the end of the new century energy will be on tap(predicate) from nuclear fusion. It is estimated that it will take over a decade from the condemnation a sustainable fusion reaction is achieved before fusion power will be available for use. But the attention being utilise to research is strong, the experiments are coming contiguous to fruition, and we are coming closer to having an almost limitless supply of energy.Bibliography1) United States Department of Energy nett site http//www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/sep/us/pecg.html (Accessed 11-22-2000)2) Fundamentals of Physics Extended one-fifth Edition. David Hanley, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. 1997.