This article explains the differences between nuclear fusion and fission, how they work, and explores the potential and dangers of both reactions as a source of energy for humanity. It emphasizes that for nuclear energy to be a blessing rather than a disaster, we need a deep understanding and responsibility for how we use and manage it.
The word “nuclear” easily conjures up images of Chernobyl and Hiroshima. Nuclear energy can be catastrophic in the wrong hands, but the truth is that it depends entirely on how humanity uses it. Just like the sun provides us with much-needed light energy through nuclear fusion reactions, if we know how to use it well, it can be a blessing in disguise. But in general, people don’t know much about nuclear energy. In particular, nuclear fusion and nuclear fission are two completely different things, and they are often talked about without distinguishing between them.
In fact, misinformation and lack of understanding about nuclear energy often leads to unnecessary fear. For example, many people tend to equate nuclear weapons with nuclear power plants. However, they have completely different principles and purposes. Nuclear weapons are intended to destroy, while nuclear power plants exist to generate electricity for human life. That’s why it’s important to have an accurate understanding of nuclear energy. Making decisions about nuclear energy based solely on fear can only harm us. In this article, we’ll first look at how nuclear fusion is used in everyday life and the detailed process of nuclear fusion, and then compare it to fission to clarify the differences between the two reactions.
Before comparing these two reactions, it’s important to emphasize that nuclei have a huge impact on our daily lives and that the way they release energy, fusion and fission, is very important. First, nuclear fusion is considered to be the clean energy source of the future and has many advantages over current nuclear reactors. Why is nuclear fusion promising as an energy source for the future? It is because deuterium and tritium, the resources of the fusion reaction, are readily available. Deuterium is easily extracted from seawater, and tritium is readily available from lithium. Moreover, they release a lot of energy in small quantities, making them an inexhaustible source of nuclear fuel. More importantly, it emits much less harmful radiation, which has been one of the problems with nuclear energy.
Another advantage of nuclear fusion is that it does not emit greenhouse gases. Most of our current energy sources come from fossil fuels, which produce a lot of carbon dioxide, which is a major contributor to global warming. Nuclear fusion, however, is gaining traction as an environmentally friendly energy source because it emits almost no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. For this reason, NASA is currently developing small-scale fusion reactors for use in space rockets. Nuclear fusion is also the secret of the sun, which provides us with enough light energy. The sun is a type of star, a large ball of gas. The gases are hydrogen and helium. In the process of nuclear fusion, nuclei rapidly collide with each other at high temperatures and fuse together, causing a slight loss of mass, which we get as light energy. This is the secret of solar energy production.
Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which light nuclei fuse to create new, heavier nuclei with a slight loss of mass, releasing energy. When hydrogen undergoes this fusion, it becomes a new atom called helium, and a huge amount of energy is released in the process. This process requires high temperatures and pressures, a critical mass, and fast neutrons. To overcome electrostatic repulsion, fusion reactions require more protons and energy than fission. However, fusion reactions release three to four times more energy than fission reactions.
Fission reactions, on the other hand, are mainly used in current nuclear power plants. In fact, nuclear power plants and conventional coal-burning power plants are not that different. Rather, they’re similar in that they both use pressurized steam generated by a turbine generator. The difference is in the way they heat the water. Whereas conventional power plants heat water with thermal energy from burning coal, nuclear power plants heat water with thermal energy from nuclear fission, which occurs when one atom splits in two. In fact, uranium itself fissures and produces heat energy. Atoms with an atomic number greater than 90 are capable of fission. Fission is a reaction in which a single atom splits into two pieces of equal mass, releasing enormous amounts of heat energy and radioactivity. Uranium-235 is highly unstable when stimulated with neutrons. It splits into barium and krypton, atoms of lighter mass, producing three neutrons as it splits.
Fission reactions don’t just produce energy. The radioactive isotopes produced by this reaction have many applications in medicine, industry, agriculture, and other fields. For example, radioisotopes are used in radiation therapy to treat cancer and in various medical imaging techniques. They are also used to prevent food from spoiling or to eliminate pests, and in industry, radioisotopes are used to measure the thickness of materials or inspect metals for flaws. In this way, fission reactions have greatly improved our lives in many ways.
So far, we have compared the uses and principles of fission and fusion. These two reactions will always be at the center of our lives. We don’t intuitively feel when fission is happening and how much energy is released when fusion is happening, but it will continue to happen constantly to provide us with energy from the sun or the center of a nuclear reactor. And a catastrophe like Chernobyl or Hiroshima, where that nuclear energy was not used correctly, could befall humanity at any time.
Therefore, we must always remind ourselves that we, as human beings, must be knowledgeable and correct in the use of nuclear energy, keeping in mind that one megaton (4.18×10^15 Joules) of atomic energy can destroy 80 square miles. Nuclear energy clearly has the potential to benefit humanity tremendously, but it also has the potential to turn into a disaster depending on how we manage it. For this reason, we need to deepen our understanding of nuclear energy and handle it responsibly. If we can harness the positive potential of nuclear energy while not overlooking its dangers, it can be an important source of energy that will help to power our future.
