Global scientists team up to create "artificial sun"

Energy shortage has become an issue that humans cannot avoid. The energy released by the sun, the Earth enjoys only a very tiny part. If humans can reproduce and control the process of releasing the sun, making it as human as possible, is it not worth it?

At present, scientists are working together to create "artificial sun" and hope to develop new energy sources by simulating the solar center's energy production model.

"Artificial sun"

The British "Sunday Times" reported on the 4th that Oxfordshire, England, will build a nuclear fusion laboratory to reproduce the internal temperature and pressure of the sun. With its high-energy laser radiation, it will directly bombard tiny hydrogen fuel spheres and release tremendous energy through fusion.

During the fusion process, the hydrogen beam pellets with a diameter of 2 mm can be heated up to 100 million degrees Celsius by a laser beam, which is much higher than the center temperature of the sun. At this point, the pressure generated by the explosion of the surface of the fuel sphere within a few hundred millionths of a second quickly compresses the pellet to a few hundredth of its original volume. Immediately afterwards, hydrogen atoms become a large number of electrons and hydrogen nuclei and combine to form helium. At the same time, the fuel ball releases a lot of energy in the form of light, heat, radiation, and the like. This process is similar to the principle of generating energy in the center of the sun, so this experiment is called "artificial sun."

The researchers said that once the technology is successful, it will provide a safe, non-carbon dioxide and new energy source with minimal radiation waste, and it is expected to solve part of the world energy crisis.

Global alliance

The "Artificial Sun" initiative has attracted scientists from all over the world.

Last week, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire formally implemented a high-energy laser project. The project leader, John Collier, said: "This technology is similar to the process of releasing energy from stars. Our task is how to control the energy it generates to serve people."

The experimental reactor that the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor plans to set up has also started construction in France. The project, which costs 8 billion pounds (about US$16 billion), uses magnetic fields instead of lasers to create the conditions for nuclear fusion. The project is expected to conduct its first experiment in 2022.

At the same time, the United States also set up a national ignition device project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The short-term goal of this project is to achieve small-scale, controlled nuclear fusion. Once the project is successful, it will be a strong demonstration that laser fusion can indeed be used for energy production. The project leader, Ed Moses, said: "We hope to complete this kind of nuclear fusion. It releases more energy than it has input, so it is possible to continuously react and produce a lot of energy."

Mixed

The soaring energy prices coupled with people’s concerns about the safety performance of fossil fuels such as coal and oil have once again given fusion technology a boost. Collier thinks this technology "may benefit humanity endlessly." However, some people also expressed concern about this.

In 2007, the British writer Peter Smith published the book "Apocalyptic Mankind," analyzing the impact of major breakthroughs in nuclear technology in the 20th century on human beings from a social and cultural perspective. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he warned: "As with their predecessors, today's scientists still claim to greet mankind with the dawn of a new era, bringing inexhaustible cheap energy. But people It should not be fooled by this imaginary language. After all, this technology is the key to making hydrogen bombs."

Mike Dunn, director of the Rutherford Central Laser Institute and leader of the High Energy Laser Project Research Team at Rutherford, United Kingdom, said: "This project is completely unrelated to the military. It aims to develop potential energy sources."

Collier acknowledged that fusion technology is not the only way to cope with energy shortages, but "as long as there is a hope for success, we should not risk giving up."