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Physicsissuef
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Why more energy is released in fusion than fission?
stevecheang said:Practically, you cannot get fusion, starting from Iron.
dmt740 said:Total newb here, so please point out my lack of understanding.
Can elements heavier than iron actually fuse? I thought the way the heavier elements were formed was when a star was about to collapse and iron (or others) picked up stray protons or alphas and became the next element in the line.
Ok, how far off am I?
dmt740 said:Ah yes, silly me. When saying fuse, I was thinking of similar atoms(ie iron + iron), not just adding particles (which is, of course, also fusion). Is it possible to get heavier elements to fuse together, or would the energy required be too large?
webelements.com said:Only very small amounts of of element 106, seaborgium, have ever been made. The first samples were made through a nuclear reaction involving fusion of an isotope of californium, 249Cf, with one of oxygen, 18O.
18O + 249Cf -> 263106Sg + 4 1n
Isolation of an observable quantity of seaborgium has never been achieved.
More recently, other isotopes have been made at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland using neon atoms to bombard californium isotopes.
248Cf + 22Ne -> 266Sg + 4 1n
webelements.com said:Only a few atoms of darmstadtium have ever been made, initially through a nuclear reaction involving fusion of an isotope of lead, Pb, with one of nickel, Ni.
208Pb + 62Ni -> 269Ds + 1n
The energy released in fusion is greater than fission because fusion involves the combination of two light nuclei to form a heavier nucleus, whereas fission involves the splitting of a heavy nucleus into two lighter nuclei. The fusion process releases energy because the mass of the resulting heavier nucleus is less than the combined mass of the two lighter nuclei, according to Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2.
Fusion releases more energy than fission due to the strong nuclear force, which is responsible for binding the subatomic particles within the nucleus together. When two light nuclei fuse, the resulting nucleus has a higher binding energy per nucleon, which means it is more tightly bound and therefore releases more energy when formed.
Fusion is considered a more efficient source of energy than fission because it produces much more energy per unit mass. This means that a smaller amount of fuel is needed to produce the same amount of energy compared to fission. Additionally, fusion reactions do not produce long-lived radioactive waste, making it a cleaner and safer form of energy.
The main challenges in harnessing fusion energy include creating the extremely high temperatures and pressures needed to initiate and sustain fusion reactions, containing and controlling the plasma (hot, ionized gas) needed for fusion reactions, and finding materials that can withstand the extreme conditions inside a fusion reactor.
While significant progress has been made in fusion research, practical fusion energy is still considered to be several decades away. There are currently several large-scale fusion projects, such as ITER, that aim to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion as a viable energy source. However, many technical and engineering challenges still need to be addressed before fusion can be harnessed for practical use.