How does nuclear fusion actually work and why is it so hard when we already have nuclear fission?

Question

How does nuclear fusion actually work and why is it so hard when we already have nuclear fission?

In: 2

Answer 1

Controlled nuclear fusion requires enormous temperature and pressure. You have to re-create the conditions of the inside of the sun, inside a laboratory.

This isn’t like fission. In fission, your material is already unstable. It wants to break down. All you have to do is coax it along to break down at the right rate.

In fusion though, you have to crush together very stable atoms. That’s why large temperatures and pressures are required.