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
To create large atom, large amount of energy have been pumped in to make the bons, this was done by supernova that created those heavy elements.
Fusion of light element create energy, only up to Iron. Anything equal or bigger than Iron will absorb energy as it fuse. This is why a star will have fusion until Iron pile up in its core (if it’s massive enough to get there) and then the fusion of Iron will suck up a lot of energy, which make the star collapse on itself. This is a supernova.
It’s similar with fission. We can create excess energy only with fission of heavy element, not lighter one.
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