At the Institute of physical Sciences, Haifa at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on an experimental superconductive version of the installation “tokamak” has reached a new record high temperature. The scientists heated the plasma to 100 million degrees Celsius! This means that the installation that eyes are called “Artificial Sun” has already been in 6 times hot of the Sun, which is only the “cooks” at 27 million degrees.
The cherished dream of all nuclear physicists to achieve a sustained fusion reaction and to obtain a source of endless energy — a step closer. It is not excluded that more temperature records will not be – the current performance is already sufficient to start trying to merge the two hydrogen nuclei and start a chain reaction. More precisely, this is the minimum calculation index — and now that milestone is passed, you can begin the most daring experiments.
The difficulty in the reproducing on Earth the fusion reactions occurring in the Sun, due to dozens of factors. We can’t simulate all the conditions that exist inside stars, so have to go another way. Tokamak was created to tackle the higher energies when the magnetic field control of the plasma heated to a known-higher than the Sun temperature. Only in such conditions here on Earth, can be activated self-sustaining reaction of nuclear fusion.
Source — Hefei Institutes of Physical Science