eli5: once we are able to sustain a fusion reaction, it is supposed to be a self sustaining process (so I have read). How would we be able to “switch off ” this process, and wouldn’t a self sustaining process be an example of a perpetual process?
In: 4
Fusion isn’t self sustaining. Fusion is when you push together to atomic nuclei so that they combine. To switch it off, you just stop pushing them together.
Maybe you mean fission. Fission can be self sustaining. That’s when large atoms decay giving off radiation, that radiation can cause decay in other atoms. To stop this, you need to be able to insert a material which can capture the radiation so that the radiation doesn’t cause that much additional decay. There are lots of other ways to create reactors and methods to control the level of fission.
A fission process will eventually stop when all the radioactive atoms have decayed to non-radioactive atoms.
Latest Answers