The search for making fusion reactors capable of having almost unlimited energy has made jump jumps forward. According to a new study, scientists who work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory can succeed in creating plasma burned in the laboratory. Plasma then sustainable use the heat of its own nuclear fusion reaction. Scientists say that this is a big milestone in an effort to bring functional fusion energy to the world.
We’re one step closer to fusion energy
What makes the findings of this research so extraordinary is the fact that the burning plasma can defend itself. This means that we slowly make the way towards creating sustainable and almost unlimited energy sources. That is the whole idea behind fusion energy, and that is why many scientists work hard to push the field further.
The researchers behind this study used the most energetic laser in the world to start the experiment. The laser is located in the lab national ignition facility. Using a laser, the researchers heat up hydrogen isotopes in the size of the BB until several times the temperature of the sun’s core. This creates the amount of pressure needed to trigger the nuclear fusion process in hydrogen. After the fusion process began, hydrogen heated its own material, to a small portion of Megajoule. It does all this without additional heat sources One of the authors in this study to Techradar that the team first produced the situation in the experiment they held between November 2020 and February 2021. During the experiment, they could produce around .17 megajoule from fusion energy.
Paving the way with nuclear fusion
The overall final goal of the experiment is to create a fusion reaction that is strong enough to defend itself. In fact, that’s all the reasons that the national ignition facility exists. One ton of energy is needed to induce fusion reactions. For a sustainable reaction, he must release more energy than used to create an early splash While .17 Megajoule that the team can make it even 10 percent of what they need to create sustainable nuclear fusion, it is a step forward. Zylstra told Techradar that the team wants to use the fusion of self-esteem to increase the energy produced Unlike nuclear energy which is currently produced in the reactor, nuclear fusion does not leave radioactive waste. The only nuclear fusion of byproduct fusion behind is helium. Substances are currently in short supply. This makes nuclear fusion even more valuable because the process creates something we can use.