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
Because those are different atoms being used. In a fission reactor, you would have a large aton like uranium splitting apart. In a fusion reactor, you would have hydrogen atoms combining into helium. In both cases, your final product has lower potential energy than what you started with, and the leftover energy is what you use.
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