Idk how I got onto this but I was just googling shit and I was wondering how we are running out of helium. I read that helium is the one non-renuable element on this planet because it comes from the result of radioactive decay. But from my memory and the D- I got in highschool chemistry, helium is number 2 on the periodic table of elements and hydrogen is number 1, so why can’t we just take a fuck ton of hydrogen, do some chemistry shit and turn it into helium? I know it’s not that simple I just don’t understand why it wouldn’t work.
Edit: I get it, it’s nuclear fusion which is physics, not chemistry. My grades were so back in chemistry that I didn’t take physics. Thank you for explaining it to me!
In: Chemistry
Lots of answers describing fusion. The real answer to your question is what’s called the electroweak force. In this case the two positive charges (the nuclei of the two hydrogen atoms) will try to move away from each other, just like a magnet would if you try and make the positive ends touch. Also, this force gets stronger the closer you get.
That said, it’s not impossible. There’s another force, the nuclear force harnessed in fusion (and fission), that is even more powerful when the particles get really close. But to overcome the electroweak force to get to point where the nuclear force takes over takes a lot of energy.
There have been a bunch of attempts to “do some chemistry shit” as you put it to get helium/fusion. There was a big stir in the 80s when some credible scientists said they’d figured it out. They’ve generally been disproven now but there’s a small, mostly discredited, group of folks still going after what’s called “cold fusion”, many of whom are doing some chemistry shit to make it happen
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