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B I L L B O A R D
Informative - Fun - Weird - Leisure
These pages are my ideas only. You may use parts or all for your own use as long as you refer to the author.
Author : A.A. van Zoelen
Nuclear fusion can be something really difficult to understand I don't pretend that i has the knowledge about it but i know the basics. Once it had to explain someone how nuclear fusion work. Now, i am a person that easily learn when i can see things happening so try to visualise the story. Or even better, just do it.
Imagine energy as being cardboard. Just a plain piece of cardboard. If you take six equally side square pieces of cardboard you can glue then together as a box. A box is actually a large form that has a large volume but its made of very little. The same analogy will hold for a atom. It takes a large volume compared to its mass.
Now build another box from your cardboard energy. These are the two atoms we will fuse together. Each box contains a amount of energy equal to its sides. If you push these boxes together you will fuse them into one larger box. The side of the box that touch the other box can be removed now and you will have now one large box. This will be your large/heavier atom and you are left over with two pieces of cardboard energy. This is the energy that being released by the fusion. So nuclear fusion don't create new energy from nothing but it transforms material in such way that energy is released as a by product.
I hope this enlight you a little.
A.A. van Zoelen / vsim@mail.com
Updated: 26 Oct. 1999