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"Sushi?"
Scientists at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA, announced that they had successfully achieved a net energy gain from a nuclear fusion reaction, but the outside world generally questioned the authenticity of this result, and some netizens even thought that this result was a lie at all.
In fact, the results are indeed obvious to all, the principle of nuclear fusion is very simple, isotope hydrogen fusion under high temperature and high pressure conditions to release a huge amount of energy, thus enabling electricity generation, but it has not been possible to achieve a net energy gain before.
This breakthrough is actually a key breakthrough for humanity as a whole, and perhaps fusion power generation is not far away.
1. Huge breakthrough.
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the world's largest laser inertial fusion device, is responsible for studying the principles and applications of laser inertial fusion, and recently made a major breakthrough in conducting experiments.
The principle of laser inertial fusion is actually very simple, that is, the high-energy laser is used to irradiate the target, and the thermal movement of the plasma is controlled by inertial confinement, so as to achieve nuclear fusion in the target ball and generate a large amount of energy.
For a long time, laser inertial fusion has achieved fusion reactions in the laboratory, but the output energy of the reaction is less than the input energy, which has led to the fact that nuclear fusion power generation has never stepped out of the laboratory for industrial application.
But this time, scientists in California have succeeded in achieving a net energy gain from the fusion reaction, which means that the fusion reaction has been able to provide a large amount of clean energy for mankind, so as to achieve clean, safe, and carbon-free clean energy.
Nuclear fusion, as the only clean energy that mankind has been able to achieve so far, and is closer to the energy source of "perpetual motion machine", has a wide range of applications, not only as a source of electricity, but also for processing various materials.
Prior to this, nuclear fusion reactions had been realized, but they were all exported with less energy than they were input, which could not be used for power generation, nor for industrial production, let alone for civilian use.
In this context, scientists have been working on how to achieve net energy gain, so that nuclear fusion reactions can be applied to power generation, industrial production and other fields.
But scientists are more interested in the principle than in the application of technology, so scientists in the laser inertial fusion experimental device have been trying various methods to achieve net energy gain, but the results have failed.
It was only recently that a major breakthrough was made, and this breakthrough was a key breakthrough for laser inertial fusion power generation, which can be said to pave the way for laser inertial fusion power generation.
However, even so, fusion power generation still faces huge challenges, and this breakthrough does not mean that fusion power generation can be used in industrial applications, but only one step closer to industrial applications.
However, this breakthrough has also made the application of nuclear fusion power generation more extensive, although nuclear fusion power generation has not been achieved before, but the principle of nuclear fusion has been applied to nuclear weapons, and the emergence of this breakthrough has enabled the principle of nuclear fusion to be applied to spacecraft thrusters.
2. Two ways of nuclear fusion.
At present, there are two main ways of nuclear fusion, one is nuclear fusion in a magnetic field, and the other is inertial confinement nuclear fusion.
Nuclear fusion in the magnetic field is the main direction of nuclear fusion power generation at present, and it is also the most familiar nuclear fusion method, which mainly uses the magnetic field to control hydrogen isotopes in a certain area to form a high-temperature and high-pressure plasma flow, so as to achieve fusion and release energy.
This method is characterized by the continuous release of energy, so it is suitable for long-term continuous energy demand such as power generation, but this method also has a drawback, that is, the energy that can be generated is relatively low, and it cannot generate enough energy for industrial production.
Inertial confinement fusion is another direction of nuclear fusion power generation, or another direction of nuclear fusion principle, which is characterized by the ability to generate huge amounts of energy, but can last for a very short time, so it cannot be applied to long-term sustainable energy demand fields such as power generation.
However, the huge energy generated in this way is also very suitable for nuclear weapons and other fields that require huge energy, so inertial confinement nuclear fusion has been more used in nuclear weapons and other fields.
However, with the development of laser technology, mankind has gradually mastered laser ignition technology, which makes the principle of nuclear fusion can be applied to inertial confinement nuclear fusion power generation.
This method is characterized by the ability to generate a huge amount of energy for a certain period of time, so it can be applied to fields with long-term continuous energy demand, such as power generation, but it is also very difficult to realize and apply this method.
3. The principle of nuclear fusion.
The principle of nuclear fusion is very simple, that is, under the conditions of high temperature and high pressure, hydrogen isotopes are fused to release energy, but the specific principle is very complex.
This method comes from the energy source of the sun, the sun releases energy through nuclear fusion, and the energy of the sun mainly comes from the core of the sun, the core temperature of the sun is very high, up to 15 million degrees Celsius, at this temperature the movement of hydrogen atoms is very fast.
Due to the fast speed of motion, it will produce a huge impact force, when the speed of hydrogen atom movement exceeds a certain degree, an elastic collision will occur, this collision will deform the nucleus of hydrogen atoms, so that the nuclei of hydrogen atoms will be fused together to produce the nucleus of helium atoms.
This process of nuclear fusion releases energy, and this energy is the energy released by nuclear fusion, which is very huge, at the temperature of the sun, 7 million tons of hydrogen atoms are nuclear fusion every second, thus releasing energy.
To apply this method to the earth, human beings need to create the temperature of the sun's core on the earth, and then achieve nuclear fusion at this temperature, so as to achieve the release of energy, which is the principle of nuclear fusion.
However, it is not easy to create the temperature of the sun's core on Earth, so nuclear fusion power generation has not been realized, and it is only in recent years that mankind has gradually mastered the technology of nuclear fusion in magnetic fields and inertial confinement nuclear fusion.
Magnetic confinement nuclear fusion is to use a strong magnetic field to control hydrogen isotopes in a certain area, so as to form a plasma flow of high temperature and high pressure, so as to achieve nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes and release energy.
Inertial confinement fusion is the use of a laser to ignite hydrogen isotopes, so as to achieve hydrogen isotope nuclear fusion and release energy, both of which can achieve nuclear fusion, but the principle of realization is different.
Magnetic confinement fusion is to use the force of the magnetic field to control the hydrogen isotope in a certain region, the advantage of this method is that it can continuously release energy, but the disadvantage is that the energy that can be produced is limited.
Inertial confinement fusion, on the other hand, uses a laser to ignite hydrogen isotopes, which has the advantage of producing a huge amount of energy, but has the disadvantage of being able to last for a very short time.
Fourth, the application of nuclear fusion power generation.
At present, the world's largest nuclear fusion research project is the ITER project, which is a nuclear fusion research project jointly initiated by Europe, China, South Korea, India, Japan, Russia, the United States and other countries, aiming to achieve magnetic confinement nuclear fusion.
The project has completed the construction of an experimental device in Vallance, France, and is currently undergoing a comprehensive experimental study with the aim of achieving magnetic confinement nuclear fusion on this experimental device, thus paving the way for the industrial application of nuclear fusion power generation.
In addition, China has also made great progress in the field of nuclear fusion, and the current nuclear fusion research project in China is the "artificial sun" project, which has established an "artificial sun" experimental base in Panzhihua, Sichuan, and is currently building a device.
The project is also dedicated to the realization of magnetic confinement nuclear fusion, so as to apply nuclear fusion power generation to industrial production and solve the global energy problem, and the experimental equipment of this project has also been half completed, and it is expected to be able to conduct research in 2020.
Other countries have also made tremendous progress in the field of nuclear fusion, and these breakthroughs are paving the way for the industrial application of fusion power generation, which may not be far away.
5. Nuclear fusion applications.
Although nuclear fusion generation has a huge application prospect, this breakthrough also brings certain problems, that is, the acquisition and utilization of tritium and other materials produced in nuclear fusion reactions, tritium is a hydrogen isotope that is easily volatile, so its utilization in the reaction will be very troublesome.
At the same time, this tritium also produces neutrons, which are harmful to the human body, so certain measures need to be taken when conducting nuclear fusion experiments.
But these problems are not unsolvable, but they have not yet been solved, and with the development of technology, these problems will be gradually solved.
In addition, although it is difficult to generate electricity by inertial confinement nuclear fusion, its application to propel spacecraft thrusters may bring new opportunities for human exploration of the universe.
At present, human exploration of the universe is limited by energy, so it can only be explored within the solar system, so mankind has been looking for a more advanced propulsion technology that can allow spaceships to travel farther.
The emergence of inertial confinement nuclear fusion may be able to provide this possibility for mankind, which is also another major breakthrough for mankind after nuclear fusion power generation.
epilogue
A breakthrough in the field of nuclear fusion is not only good news for the continent, but also has a profound impact on the global energy landscape.
As a clean energy source, nuclear fusion has a wide range of applications, and may be able to solve the current energy crisis and environmental problems, thereby providing a better future for mankind.
As the scientists behind this breakthrough say, once nuclear fusion is achieved to generate electricity, it will open a new era for human exploration of the universe, and perhaps that day is not too far off.
At the same time, it is also a major application prospect of nuclear fusion power generation, which can apply nuclear fusion experimental devices on Earth to spacecraft thrusters, thereby expanding the scope of human exploration beyond the solar system.