Questions and Answers
What is the United States National Ignition Facility (NIF)?
A facility that aims to reproduce the power source of the stars
How many times did the NIF break its own record for energy released from nuclear fusion reactions?
23 times
What percentage of laser energy put into the NIF experiment was released as nuclear energy?
70%
What is fusion?
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What is the fuel required for nuclear fusion?
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What is the benefit of using fusion as a power source?
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Which of the following is NOT true about the NIF's breakthrough?
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Study Notes
- The United States National Ignition Facility (NIF) made a breakthrough in reproducing the power source of the stars.
- The experiment smashed its own 2018 record for energy released from nuclear fusion reactions 23 times over.
- 70% of the laser energy put in was released as nuclear energy.
- Fusion takes small atoms and combines them to forge larger atoms.
- Fusion doesn't produce carbon dioxide or long-lived radioactive waste.
- The fuel it requires - two types of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium - is plentiful enough to last for at least thousands of years.
- The NIF's breakthrough is about demonstrating the principle only, and the total amount of energy generated is not very impressive.
- Many recent advances have been made with a different type of fusion device, the tokamak.
- The world's largest ever magnetic fusion machine, Iter, is under construction in the south of France.
- Alternative designs are also being explored, including an advanced tokamak with an innovative spherical geometry and "stellarators".
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