In the Joint European Torus (JET), fusion plasma rushes around the reactor’s core at 150 million °C, hotter than the centre of the sun. Wouldn’t this heat the earth?

Question

In the Joint European Torus (JET), fusion plasma rushes around the reactor’s core at 150 million °C, hotter than the centre of the sun. Wouldn’t this heat the earth?

In: 2

Answer 1

Yes, it would, in exactly the same way that rubbing a stick against the ground really quickly would heat the earth. It’s a *technically* true statement yet has no real effect at all because the earth is *really big* and the heat source is extremely small in comparison.