Fission is what is currently used in nuclear reactors today, and it basically consists of atoms breaking apart and releasing energy due to their bonds being broken.
How is fusion such an efficient energy source? I would imagine that to create atoms, large amounts of energy would have to be pumped in to make bonds.
In: Physics
The internal structure of Hydrogen contains a tad more energy that can be released in fusion than the internal structure of Uranium when it is fissioned. The source of that energy is the Big Bang and technically, the source of the energy that generated the Uranium is the same thing. Uranium is the result of a big fusion reactor (supernova) that provided the energy necessary to produce it. The only two elements generated in the Big Bang were Hydrogen and Helium. If fusion of these wasn’t more efficient than fission, Uranium wouldn’t even exist.
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