Barely a year after the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) broke one record for fusion, it's smashed it again, this time holding onto a churning whirlpool of 100 million degree plasma for a whole 30 seconds.
Though it's well short of the 101 seconds set by the Chinese Academy of Sciences earlier this year, it remains a significant milestone on the road to cleaner, near-limitless energy that could transform how we power our society.
Here's why it's so important.
Deep inside stars like our Sun, gravity and high temperatures give simple elements such as hydrogen the energy they need to overcome the repulsion of their nuclei and force them to squeeze into bigger atoms.
The result of this nuclear fusion is heavier elements, a few stray neutrons, and a whole lot of heat.
On Earth, scooping together a Sun's worth of gravity isn't possible. But we can achieve similar results by swapping the crunch of gravity for some extra punch in the form of heat. At some point we can even squeeze enough heat from the fusing atoms to keep the nuclear reaction going, with enough left over to siphon off for power.
That's the theory. But getting that insanely hot plasma to stay in place long enough to tap into its heat supply for a sustained, reliable source of energy requires some clever thinking. TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...
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