Question

Part A Which statement is true about nuclear fusion? Which statement is true about nuclear fusion? Nuclear fusion is not considered a good method for the production of electricity because the by-products of nuclear fusion are even more toxic and long-lived than those from nuclear fission. The reaction responsible for the hydrogen bomb is four hydrogen nuclei combining to form a helium nucleus. Nuclear fusion reactions are difficult to accomplish because they only occur at extremely high temperatures. Several research groups around the world have been able to use fusion reactions on a small scale to produce a net output of energy (more energy is produced than was needed to get the fusion reaction to occur).

Answer 1

Answer:

Nuclear fusion reactions are difficult to accomplish because they only occur at extremely high temperatures

Explanation:

Nuclear fusion is a nuclear process that occurs when nuclei of light elements fuse together forming a nucleus of a heavier element. In this process, the total mass of the final nucleus is smaller than the sum of the masses of the initial nuclei, so part of the mass has been converted into energy according to the equation

$E=\Delta mc^2$

where

$\Delta m$ is the mass change

c is the speed of light

Due to the huge value of c ($c=3.0\cdot 10^8 m/s$), we see that even for a small amount of mass change, the energy released in this process is huge.

In fact, nuclear fusion is the process that occurs in the core of the stars, that allow stars to continuously produce huge amount of energy. However, nuclear fusion can only occur at very high temperatures (million of Kelvins), because the nuclei need to have enough kinetic energy in order to overcome the electrostatic repulsion that occurs between them (nuclei are made of protons, so they naturally repel each other). This is the reason why it is currently difficult to accomplish nuclear fusion reactions on Earth, because it is not easy to create environments with such extremely high temperatures.