Mas favor ko sa NUCLEAR FUSION.
Controlling the power of the sun, the energy of the stars themselves, has been a goal of both scientists and dreamers for centuries. And today we are scratching a little deeper than the surface, with huge advances being made in a field of physics, developments once thought to be closer to science fiction than science.
But what if instead of just harvesting the rays of the sun that make it to the surface of the Earth, the physics behind the sun’s incredible energy output could be replicated here? What if scientists could imitate the sun fusion process and cause two hydrogen nuclei to combine together to create helium, giving off colossal amounts of heat energy in the process?
Scientists are already doing it—albeit on a much smaller scale, and for very short periods of time.
The lure of commercially viable nuclear fusion power generation is compelling. It produces zero “greenhouse gasses.†No radioactive waste is produced. There is no chance of a catastrophic Fukishima-type meltdown. It is a million times more efficient than today’s nuclear power plants—and a trillion times more efficient than fossil fuels.
Best of all, the hydrogen needed to power this reaction can be obtained from the oceans—the largest geographical feature on the planet.
Commercial fusion has some governments and private investors salivating. When professors Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox were asked to name the most pressing scientific challenge facing humanity, they both gave the same answer: producing electricity from fusion energy. The prize? A source of clean, inexpensive, limitless energy to power human development for centuries.
But here is the catch, and it is a big one. Replicating what happens in the heart of a star isn’t an easy task. Governments have spent billions trying to do just that, and the best they can show for it is the ability to produce and sustain 16 million watts of energy output—for one second.
Producing energy for a second may not sound like much, but consider that back in the 1970s the best that could be achieved was one tenth of a watt, produced for a fraction of a second. That is a billion-fold increase, notes the New York Times. Do that again, and we are in business.
While the physics of nuclear fusion is well understood, the engineering requirements to control the process are very challenging. For example, how do you handle the gas-like hydrogen plasma formed by the colliding hydrogen nuclei when it routinely reaches 150 million degrees centigrade? It literally melts away anything it touches.
But advances in technology are now close to overcoming this problem. Some scientists are using advanced magnets to not only suspend but deftly manipulate the almost unfathomably hot plasma. Others use lasers to control how many hydrogen atoms are allowed to fuse, vastly lowering temperatures.
Challenges remain, but a race is on. The first nation to develop a viable fusion power station could literally write its own check. The ability to build minivan-size suns able to supply the energy needs of whole countries—for thousands of years—holds the potential to change the balance of power and the world forever. It would make the holders of that technology unfathomably rich. If used properly, this alone could virtually eliminate poverty.
The European Union, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States have all teamed up to work toward developing a fusion power prototype by 2020.
“Now some people are cynical about that,†says Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at City College of New York. “They say, ‘Hey, give me a break. We’ve been there. We’ve heard the claims. Every 20 years they say that fusion is 20 years from now. Twenty years come, and we’re still no closer to fusion.’ There is a difference. This time we physicists think that we have the technical problems licked.â€
Yet, if there is a race for fusion, according to the Times, America is lagging. The most advanced research facilities today are in Europe and Asia. And the world’s first operational fusion power plant is scheduled to be built in France in 2019.
The prize is enormous: The sun produces enough energy in one second to power the world’s current needs for a million years.
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