http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....5-scienceNews-2

Chinese scientists have claimed that they successfully fused deuterium and tritium atoms for about three seconds at 100M°C. If it's true (which I kind of doubt, they have a tendency to claim breakthroughs that turn out fake), then large scale fusion reactors are closer than ever. Fusion creates much less waste than fission, which is what nuclear power plants use currently.

At the moment, fusion uses a lot more energy to carry out than we get at the end of it, so it isn't viable to use as a source of power or electricity. The Sun uses fusion and releases more energy than was used to start the reaction because the heat generated is so great it causes new reactions to start. This is the sort of technological breakthrough we need where we can fuse things like hydrogen or nitrogen atoms together and end up with harmless, or perhaps even useful, products. It's good to see China exploring other energy producing possibilities as their economy is growing so rapidly they can't keep up.

I'm not smart enough to know what Nuclear Fusion is. What is it?

i'm not sure what all of the mumbo jumbo science talk the last bit you said was but if it is true then we have a new, better fuel. then again here in aus the country is too scared to use nuclear power

Dogga:

Nuclear Fusion is basicly the fusing of the nuclui of many atoms to make a big nucleus. This process results in a big jolt of energy. Just think of it as, the reason we can see stars in the sky is because of nuclear fusion, because there are so many nuclui that are fusing together and making the light for the star. For planets, it is because of the light from the sun's nuclear fusion hitting the planets that we can see those.

Make sense?

Well, if this is true, it is great news, as we are starting to have a problem with energy, or the lack of it. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have given out much information, which makes it seem unlikely that it is true.

I agree that it sounds hard to believe, especially since China isn't a fully industrialized nation yet, and its economy isn't the best out there. It's hard to say for sure until the circumstances can be duplicated. Here is an article on some of the details concerning the D-T (Deuterium-Tritium) fuel cycle, one of the most currently feasible methods for creating fusion power, as far as we know.

Do you know what that means at all, or are you trying to sound like you know? i don't even know what this means for the world! Are they for us or against us??? If they are, then that sucks, but if they're not, great!