Most of the world’s energy supply
comes from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), but
unfortunately we only have a limited amount of these left on the
planet. Fusion1 energy is energy generated by fusion nuclear
reactions and it has an enormous potential of becoming a very
important energy source in the future. Commercial fusion power
plants, however, have turned out to be very difficult to build and we
have yet to see a commercially fusion production plant come into
operation…..
1) Communicates the physics behind fusion energy using physics
language. Appropriate symbolic and visual representations
should be used to support this communication.
2) Explains more generally how physics can be used to address
the issue of vanishing fossil fuels, and explains some of the
benefits and limitations to the approach using fusion energy.
3) Discusses how this approach interacts globally with some of the
following factors: social, economical, political, environmental,
cultural, and ethical.
Do you know?
Here is the tiny little fact about fusion energy that nobody wants to talk about. Even if they make a workable fusion reactor, it will still need a fuel that would be in limited supply on earth AND will be depleted just as much as fossil fuels will be depleted.
Hydrogen or any of its isotopes, for example, would be the prospect fuel for a fusion reactor. Once it is converted to Helium or any of its isotopes, it’s gone!, you cannot use it anymore unless you increase the confinement force about 100 fold or more so that you can have fusion of Helium into heavier elements (which will be the equivalent of a "red giant" sun).
Fusion energy may be clean, but it WILL be in limited supply as the fuel it requires will be in limited supply and depleting. This fuel better be found naturally on earth just as much as fossil fuels are found naturally on earth. God knows what country we will be invading to get to that natural supply of hydrogen, if it indeed exists. So far hydrogen is ironically obtained from fossil fuels or separated from water (at a great cost of energy spent on it). By the way, water is NOT a fuel and can never be a fuel.
This is all a consequence of the Second Law of Thermodynamics which I suggest you study carefully if you want to understand the bottom line about fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and, in general, any form of energy existing now or to be found in the future.
March 26th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Here is the tiny little fact about fusion energy that nobody wants to talk about. Even if they make a workable fusion reactor, it will still need a fuel that would be in limited supply on earth AND will be depleted just as much as fossil fuels will be depleted.
Hydrogen or any of its isotopes, for example, would be the prospect fuel for a fusion reactor. Once it is converted to Helium or any of its isotopes, it’s gone!, you cannot use it anymore unless you increase the confinement force about 100 fold or more so that you can have fusion of Helium into heavier elements (which will be the equivalent of a "red giant" sun).
Fusion energy may be clean, but it WILL be in limited supply as the fuel it requires will be in limited supply and depleting. This fuel better be found naturally on earth just as much as fossil fuels are found naturally on earth. God knows what country we will be invading to get to that natural supply of hydrogen, if it indeed exists. So far hydrogen is ironically obtained from fossil fuels or separated from water (at a great cost of energy spent on it). By the way, water is NOT a fuel and can never be a fuel.
This is all a consequence of the Second Law of Thermodynamics which I suggest you study carefully if you want to understand the bottom line about fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and, in general, any form of energy existing now or to be found in the future.
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