Essay about Nuclear Fusion

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Nuclear Fusion Learning the process of nuclear fusion is one of scientist’s greatest discoveries. From how much energy is radiated from the sun to the creation of the hydrogen bomb, nuclear fusion has impacted our world much more than we think. Within this paper, the history and description, importance, relation to our chemistry class, and current research regarding the topic will be explored. In the 1930’s, nuclear fusion was only a process known by scientists that explained how the sun and other stars yielded an enormous amount of energy. But during the 1950’s, scientist discovered a way to explore how and where the energy derives. They found that when two light atoms, often isotopes of hydrogen, collide together at extremely high speeds, they create a larger atom, but also release a large amount of energy in the process. Heavier atoms are much less likely to fuse, and any atom heavier then iron will not fuse at all. After fusion, the mass of the product atom will be less than the sum of the two reactants’ mass. This mass is often calculated by one of Einstein’s most popular formulas, E=mc2 (m representing mass, c representing the speed of light). Overall, this equation states that even when the amount of mass that “disappears” is very small, the amount of energy produced is still very large. Nuclear fusion naturally occurs often on Earth, such as four hydrogen nuclei fusing together to create a helium atom. But, scientists discovered a process that greatly increases the energy output of nuclear fusion called a thermonuclear reaction. This type of reaction created what we call the hydrogen bomb. As heat increases in the casing, gas particles move faster and therefore cause more collision. When the temperature reaches approximately 100,000,000oC, the hydrogen atoms collide so powerfully that they create a mass explosion. In general, scientists found a way to harness a reaction at temperatures completely unknown to earth and create a bomb from it.
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