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macilacilove
on Dec 17, 2023
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US nuclear-fusion lab enters new era: achieving 'i...
Can somebody explain, what exactly is "ignition"? If even a single helium atom is fused you have "more energy than you have put into it". That does not seem impressive.
dist-epoch
on Dec 17, 2023
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No, you have more energy than two separate helium atoms.
You haven't counted the energy required to make them fuse in the first place.
eesmith
on Dec 17, 2023
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There is a nice Sankey diagram at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility#Sys...
showing where the energy losses go.
ynlefevre
on Dec 17, 2023
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this may help:
https://lasers.llnl.gov/science/ignition
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