Nuclear Fusion
- In nuclear fusion, two or more small and light nuclei come together to form a heavier nucleus.
- This process is accompanied by the release of a huge amount of energy.
- Below are two examples of fusion reactions:
- Fusion is much more difficult to achieve than fission because the hydrogen nuclei repel each other. Therefore, the nuclei must be heated to 108 K or more so that the nuclei will have enough of kinetic energy to overcome the electrical repulsion between the nuclei.
- Example
- The sun get its energy from the fusion of hydrogen nuclei.
- A hydrogen bomb uses the principle of nuclear fusion for its design.
