I heard recently a large hurdle to figuring out fusion energy was overcome and while there are still other challenges to face it’s possible that we could one day see fusion reactors.
How is energy released through both fusion and fission? Would it be theoretically possible to split heavier elements into lighter ones and then fuse them back into heavier ones to be split once more?
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>How is energy released through both fusion and fission?
For a given atom, it isn’t. For any given element, only fusion OR fission releases net energy.
Fusing atoms smaller than iron releases energy, and splitting them requires energy.
For elements bigger than iron it’s the opposite, it’s splitting them that releases energy and fusing them requires energy.
Eg Hydrogen – smaller than iron – releases energy through fusion. Uranium – bigger than iron – releases energy through fission. Fusion of uranium would require more energy than it releases, because just as you suspected it’s impossible for fusion and fission of the same thing to *both* produce energy.
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