Okay dear, today we will talk about an interesting topic: if mankind finally achieves controlled nuclear fusion, will the earth have only a few kilograms of tritium left, will it be used up soon?
First of all, please imagine how earth-shaking our lives would have been if this guy had really come true! Just like the advent of computers and the Internet, which completely changed the way human beings lived. Can you imagine life without computers and mobile phones? What a boring, boring world it would be!
When it comes to nuclear fusion, I believe that the first thing that comes to mind for many people is explosions and nuclear radiation, in short, a bunch of loud and scary words. But there's no need to be so alarmed, a controlled fusion reaction is a very clean, efficient, and endless source of energy. You think, if it can be realized, wouldn't it be more convenient for us to travel to space? How can there be enough poor fossil fuels on the earth? And burning fossil fuels will seriously pollute the environment, and if there is nuclear fusion energy, it will be equivalent to reducing the burden on the earth. With this momentum, perhaps the global village will be restored to a vibrant blue homeland in the future!
Okay, okay, don't let me go around and talk, let's focus on the main character, tritium. Don't you think the word "tritium" is very familiar? That's right, it's the scandal over the discharge of nuclear wastewater in Japan! According to the Japanese Government, the total amount of tritium in the wastewater discharged is less than 3 grams, which does not sound like too much. But hey, who's to guarantee that they're telling the truth? I don't believe Japanese nonsense at all.
Don't rush to scold the Japanese, let's get back to business. But before that, I have to give you a little science: tritium is actually an isotope of hydrogen, and it is different from ordinary hydrogen in that it contains two neutrons, so it is denser. Can you imagine that such a small proton is surrounded by two big neutrons? I look like a petite girl surrounded by two big men, it's really weird.
Of course, this is nothing new. Nature is inherently strange and strange, and in short, human beings are endlessly curious about all things in nature. For example, tritium, although its presence in nature is negligible, it is a precious "panacea" for achieving the major scientific and technological goal of controlled nuclear fusion!
You must be wondering, why tritium is so "rare"? This has to start with its generation and half-life.
Tritium is mainly produced by nuclear reactions, such as when neutrons bombard lithium. However, the half-life of tritium is very short, less than 12 years, which means that every 12 years, half of the tritium decays and transforms into other elements. It is conceivable that if the half-lives continue one after another, how can there be too much tritium in nature?
This answers the question of why there is only a small amount of tritium on Earth. But don't worry, once controlled nuclear fusion is realized, there will be ways to make tritium.
For example, in nuclear fusion reactions, a large number of neutrons are produced. If we can control the direction of these neutrons and let them bombard lithium, won't we be able to produce a steady stream of tritium? Isn't that ingenious? But the technology is still very immature, and we'll have to wait and see what scientists do in the future.
Of course, in addition to bombarding lithium with neutrons, there are also some other methods that can be used to prepare tritium in large quantities. Mainland scientists have published many related papers, expounding various exquisite techniques for extracting tritium from tritium-containing heavy water, such as special electrolysis methods, gas-liquid catalytic exchange, and so on. In short, there are many methods, and they are all worth continuing to study.
Okay, you guys should understand by now, right? Although there are only a few kilograms of tritium on the earth, don't forget that this is only the current situation. Once controlled nuclear fusion is successfully achieved, we will have the ability to artificially produce large quantities of tritium, and there will never be a dilemma of "materials that can be made, but no trace of minerals".
So rest assured, in the future, we can hope to swim in outer space and breathe fresh air on the earth at the same time, and it will take hundreds of years to run out of tritium! I hope that this day will come soon, and I hope that the grand blueprint for the future will become a reality. There is still a long way to go, and there are still many obstacles waiting for us to overcome, but as long as we persevere and persevere, we will one day be able to eat this delicacy. Finally, I would like to call on everyone to cherish the present, let us take practical actions to care for the earth's home, and don't let down our vigilance before success!
Disclaimer: The information in this article comes from the Internet, which is not guaranteed to be completely correct and is for reference only.