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Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea runs at 100 million degrees C for a record-breaking 48 seconds (www.livescience.com)

submitted 5 months ago by m3t00@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

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48 seconds. I predict a glut of helium. balloons for everyone

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[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 159 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Is… is that good?

Edit: it is!

[-] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 31 points 5 months ago

when talking about fusion, just think the conditions of stars/the sun. In order to function correctly, it has to be ridiculously hot.

The race for fusion is how to maintain it, and eventually have a net positive transaction of energy out, to energy in ratio.

[-] Assman@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 months ago

Stupid guy here, being ridiculously hot is the whole point right? Isn't a fusion reactor just an extremely complex steam engine?

[-] FearfulSalad@ttrpg.network 13 points 5 months ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion

The fusion of light elements up to a certain nucleus size releases energy. However, fusion only occurs at very high temperatures and pressures. The goal is to 1) create the conditions for nuclear fusion (which they did), 2) have the fusion reaction produce energy that sustains those conditions (they did for 48 seconds), and ideally a tiny bit more, 3) gather residual energy that isn't critical to the reaction itself, which is the part that looks like a steam engine.