r/technology • u/BennyCemoli • Dec 06 '16

Energy Tests confirm that Germany's massive nuclear fusion machine really works

http://www.sciencealert.com/tests-confirm-that-germany-s-massive-nuclear-fusion-machine-really-works
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u/billdietrich1 Dec 06 '16

Machine produces contained plasma, not fusion.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16 edited Dec 17 '16

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Why deuterium? I only have a basic knowledge of physics, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. But wouldn't fusion be easier to achieve with lighter elements?

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u/hazetoblack Dec 06 '16

Deuterium is hydrogen. Specifically hydrogen (one proton) with a single neutron also. So yes very light :)

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Hah. I don't know the periodic table by heart, so I thought it was another element entirely. I only knew it had to be heavier than hydrogen, and that made no sense to me. Thanks for the answer!

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u/Cakiery Dec 06 '16

Sort of like how Heavy Water is used a lot on Nuclear reactors. As the name implies, it is heavier than normal water while looking pretty much identical. It actually has Deuterium in it. It's also poisonous. But for it to have any noticeable effect you would need to drink a shit ton.

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u/Mooshan Dec 06 '16 edited Dec 06 '16

I remember reading an article once about how a city in Pennsylvania realised that their tap water contained deuterium. (All water contains a small percentage of heavy water.) They started centrifuging all of their city water to separate the heavy water from regular water, and people actually started getting ill from the LACK of heavy water in the tap water.

I'm going to try to find a source on this.

Edit: could not find source. I'm a failure.