WEBVTT - The Future of Fusion and Helium-3 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.080 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:14.440 Forward Thinking. Hey there, welcome to Forward Thinking, the podcast 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.240 that looks in the future and says, I'm your moon, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.960 You're my moon. We go round and round. I'm Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.960 and I'm Joe McCormick, and our other host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.360 is not with us today, but she will be back 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:31.080 with us soon. She is off doing something awesome right now. Yeah, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.680 she's vacating, and we just have to sit here and 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:40.040 talk about science that's gonna blow your brains out your ears. Yeah. Yeah, 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.839 We're gonna specifically talk about one of my favorite things 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:44.360 in science, and I really wanted to get some in 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.200 here so that we could, you know, have that moment. 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.280 Maybe we can have Noel pitch up our voices appropriately, 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:56.800 because we're going to talk about Helium three, specifically Helium three. 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.960 It's when you get to the third movie in a series. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.960 Is it almost always goes downhill? Doesn't It pretty much 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.200 goes downhill after the second in the second one. How 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:06.720 many can you think of where you get to the 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.480 third one and it's still good, It's still good. Yeah, 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.320 that's a tough one. Man, maybe evil dead army attic 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:16.440 is pretty good. That's a good one. It is very different. So, 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.120 but of course helium three is not actually, uh what's 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.840 the word for a sequel, that's actually the third one, 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:26.920 a triquil. It's not that it's an isotope. It is 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.280 an isotope. So let's let's talk about what helium is 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.600 and then specifically what helium three is and why we're 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:35.880 interested in talking about this in the first place. Yeah, actually, 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:37.360 because this is going to be more than just a 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.880 chemistry lesson, will actually play into a discussion about technology 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.479 that could be highly relevant to life on planet Earth 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.000 and beyond. Yeah, exactly. So helium is an element, Yeah, 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.800 second lightest element in the universe, behind hydrogen. But it's 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.480 always looking at hydrogen and saying like, if only I 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:56.960 were that, then it's you know, hydrogen. It's just looking 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:58.920 at hydrogen on the ladder, and it's like, you just 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.360 watch yourself, buddy, I am one step behind, and if 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.760 you falter, I will take your place. I might be 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:11.200 anthropomorphizing elements a little bit, but no, it's it's a colorless, odorless, 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.520 and tasteless element. It is a gas at room temperature 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:19.080 and it makes up a whopping point zero zero zero 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:24.440 five of the Earth's atmosphere, and it's not gravitationally bound 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.680 to the Earth. Helium is so light that it just 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.120 continues to float up and up and up until it 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.480 can slip the earthly bonds of gravity and flow down 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.320 into space. Yeah. And if you're like, wait a minute, 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.280 how does that work? Just think about what happens to 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.360 a helium balloon. Yeah, I mean yeah, and it comes up, 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.880 it's it's lighter than the atmosphere, so uh, and eventually 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.600 you've got the balloon that is, the balloon part is 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.560 heavy enough to keep the the whole thing floating off 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.680 into space. That's why we don't have you know, if 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.160 you looked out into space, you wouldn't see the last 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.800 you know, it's fifty years of children's birthday party balloons 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.679 are cleaned the Earth. But no, I'm sure eventually the 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.200 balloon pops. Yes, But but the gas itself can escape 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:11.800 to the space. Yeah. So what makes an element that element? Well, 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.160 it's the number of protons in the nucleus of the element. 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.880 So the specific thing that makes helium helium is that 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.760 it's got two protons. Now, other things can vary. Yes, 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.400 you can have like charged particles, or you can have 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.160 charged atoms, or you can have isotopes that have different 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.840 numbers of neutrons. Exactly the standard helium you're gonna find 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.440 on Earth if you find it, because again it's pretty rare, 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.880 it's gonna be helium four. Yeah, that's two protons, two neutrons, 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.680 the four. It's a nice balance. It's referring to the 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:47.280 mass here really the atomic mass and total. Yeah, four total, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:52.680 the two protons, the two neutrons, uh and UH. Helium 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.560 three obviously would mean that you'd have to have one 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.680 fewer of those nucleic particles, but as you pointed out, Joe, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.320 you can't change the number of protons. Now, if you 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:06.400 did that, you would suddenly have tritium because you would 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.440 have one proton, two neutrons and well, actually, and you 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.520 don't have to get rid of an electron uh, and 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.000 that would end up being an isotope of hydrogen. So 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:17.280 if you you have the only thing you can get 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.080 rid of and still have it be helium is a neutron. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:22.960 So you get rid of a neutron, you have two protons, 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:27.760 one neutron, and still two electrons you've got helium three. 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.320 So yeah, if you if you have a surplus or 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:36.080 a deficit of electrons, that's an ion of whatever you 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.640 know element you're talking about. And then the different the 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.240 different variations of neutrons, those are the isotopes. So I 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.120 have a question that Jonathan, you mentioned that it's not 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:50.200 gravitationally bound to Earth. Well, obviously everything has a gravitational attraction, 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:51.800 but I think what you're saying is that it's lighter 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.440 than the atmosphere, so it just goes, it just goes, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:58.360 it just boils off into space. Right, Um, So how 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.480 come there's any on Earth at all? That's a great 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.000 question because obviously, if there were, you know, just some 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:08.320 limited supply of of helium by now throughout the Earth's history, 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.120 you would have expected it all to go away. But 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:15.799 in fact, helium can be the result of radioactive decay. 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.719 So one of the things radioactive decay can produce are 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:24.360 what are called alpha particles. That's specifically alpha decay, and 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.719 that's a form of ionizing radiation, right, and alpha particles 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.640 are essentially helium nucleus. So you've got the two protons 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.520 and the two neutrons, and if it captures two electrons, 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.560 it becomes a helium atom. But that would be helium four, 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.200 like we talked about regular old helium that's got that 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.360 nice nuclear balance. Yeah, and and that is by far 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.200 the more prevalent type of helium that you would find 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:53.320 on Earth. Like you know, some huge number per cent 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.479 of all the helium on Earth falls under the category 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:00.280 of helium four. Only a tiny percentage is helium three. Now, 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.160 if I want to put helium to very good use, 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.919 such as like buying a tank of it for a 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.800 child's birthday party, to fill up a bunch of balloons 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.200 that eventually flowed up in the atmosphere pop fall down 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.960 to Earth and kill some wildlife, and then also just 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.039 end up huffing some of it to make my voice 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.120 really high. Where does that helium come from? Like, where 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.680 did they fill up the tank? So yeah, this is uh, 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.160 you know, usually we get helium through as a byproduct 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:27.880 of other things. So it's not that we've got you know, 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.000 we don't have people in the you know, laboring away 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:35.080 in the helium mines deep under the ground. That would 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.640 be the most hilarious, mind though, they would definitely be 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:44.680 singing very high pitched songs and then when they emerge 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.920 from the minds, you see these just enormous dudes. Now, um, 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.880 it's mostly from natural gas deposits. Oh, hold on a second, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:56.200 this is what happened to snow White seven Dwarves because 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.960 they sing that that song. Yeah, what is the song? 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.160 Which high high ho? It's off to work we go. 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.279 I guess that's not all that high pitched a song 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.839 for some reason, I was imagine it's Actually it's actually 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.360 fairly low for you know, it's high who high who? 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.400 Now snow White she's going falsetto city. But anyway, getting 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.960 back to this, Um, yeah, it's mostly from natural gas deposits. 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.800 And in the United States, we're talking about deposits that 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:24.440 are mostly found in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, the state, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.560 not the band, right, Yeah, so that's that's where we're 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:32.880 getting it. Some other interesting facts about helium. You can 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.160 liquefy helium. You can get it to turn into liquid form. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.520 In fact, that's very important for a lot of of 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:44.360 scientific purposes. But you gotta get the temperature nice and 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:49.360 chilly first. I imagine it also requires applying some pressure. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.400 It does, so if you're talking about turning helium into 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.200 a liquid. It will be a liquid at minus four 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.560 fifty two degrees fahrenheit, which is minus two hundred sixty 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.760 eight point nine degrees celsius. Folks. Yeah, so the freezing 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.200 and boiling points of helium are lower than any other 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.040 known substance. I mean, there may be other ones out 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.800 there that we don't know of that could break this record, 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:16.560 but so far, so good. Um, and liquid helium is 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.720 what we what we well, what researchers and scientists are 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:24.040 using to super cool elements at stuff like the Large 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.720 Hadron Collider. You know, you want to make sure that 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.640 super conductivity is something that normally we can only achieve 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.800 through super cooling as well as a just removal of 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.720 all electric electrical resistance. Resistance that's where you lose energy 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.959 in the form of heat. By super cooling, you can 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:45.000 you can reduce resistance to zero, so you get electrons 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.400 flowing through the conductor. Material becomes like a super conductor. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.800 So um, it's kind of like just turning whatever it 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:56.000 is into a greased luge for electricity. Yeah. Now, you know, 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.400 we we know about the main types of of matter. 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.840 You know, we will will discount plasma for the second 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:04.920 for the sake of conversation. But you know the three 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.520 that all elementary school kids here in the US learn about. 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.640 The You have the gases, you have the liquids, and 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.240 then you've got the solids. So you might wonder, well, 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.280 can you make helium into a solid, And the answer 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.080 is you can, but it requires tremendous effort because you 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.000 have to have it under a pressure of at least 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.760 twenty five atmospheres. That may have been the pressure I 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:26.360 was thinking about a minute ago. Yeah, I mean you 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.400 would normally, if you're going to turn helium into a 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:31.880 liquid here on Earth, you're going to be applying pressure anyway, right, 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.040 because it's not Getting the temperature down that low is 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.720 very difficult to do. The liquid helium is what you 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:42.720 switch to when liquid nitrogen isn't cold enough. So uh yeah, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.000 So you'd have to apply a pressure of twenty five 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:50.520 atmospheres and at a temperature of one kelvin. Zero kelvin 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.720 keep in mind, is no molecular movement. That's absolute zero, 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.600 So that is minus four fifty eight degrees fahrenheit or 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:02.040 minus two d seventy two degrees celsiu. So pretty phenomenal stuff. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.320 And we were talking about the isotopes. The fact that 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.080 you know, that's the difference between you know, how many 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.840 protons are how many neutrons are in the nucleus of 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.640 your atom. Right, so the one you'd most often find 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.120 on planet Earth is going to be your standard helium four, 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.080 two protons, two neutrons. We we are going to be 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.320 talking a lot more about helium three. That's where you 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.880 take one of the neutrons away. But how many isotopes 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.240 are there total? There are seven more than that, so 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.400 there's nine total, But there are only two that you're 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.760 gonna find in nature, helium four and helium three, because 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.319 those are the stable forms of helium. In the lab, 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:39.440 you can make other isotopes, but they don't last forever. 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.600 They decay. In the lab, you can make all kinds 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.840 of perversions of nature, It's true. And in the lab 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.560 we just laugh and laugh and and then you know, 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.200 and then there's the terror and the scariness, and the 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.160 dinosaurs get loose and and some helium atoms wake you 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.080 up in the middle of the night saying why did 0:10:56.080 --> 0:11:01.800 you create me? Ugly? It's time. So, yeah, lots of 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.679 different isotopes, only two are and found in nature. Says 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.079 exactly the same too that we've been talking about all 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.240 this time. And um, now, there were a pair of 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.720 scientists who were the first to propose that the isotope 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.800 helium three would exist. That would be Mark Oliphant, who 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:21.360 was an Australian physicist, and Ernest Rutherford, who was a 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.319 New Zealand physicist. So I have to imagine that they 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.880 worked together, that they fought like cats and dogs, because 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.320 those Australians and New Zealanders, let me tell you, actually 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.600 they're both very nice. Just don't confuse one for the other. 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.040 That's the rule of thumb. But they were investigating the 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.599 possibilities of helium and hydrogen isotopes way back in the 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.120 nineteen thirties, and they discovered tritium, which is hydrogen with 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.360 a mass of three, so it's a a proton and 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.720 two neutrons. Uh. And they also discovered helium three, which 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:52.440 is helium with a mass of three. Three was an 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.560 interesting number for them. It's the magic number. So we've 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.880 known about helium three since the nineteen thirties. Uh. And 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.560 the question now is why on earth did we pick 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.320 helium three to talk about here on this podcast. Yeah, 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.480 I mean there are tons of isotopes that most of 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.920 them just what do they matter? Like, what can you 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.800 do with them? Yeah? The the interesting thing about helium 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:19.000 three is it's potentially a very useful source of fuel 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.760 for nuclear fusion, as in a nuclear reactor that uses fusion, 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.880 not fission to generate electricity. Hold on the second. Yeah, 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.920 I thought nuclear fusion was just one of those wacko dreams. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.440 It may still be. We're hoping that it won't be, 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.320 but it's one of those things where the the the 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:42.760 science is saying something and now we're waiting for the 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.680 technology to catch up. Okay, well, let's do a real 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:50.560 quick and easy distinction between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Right, 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.200 nuclear fission are all the nuclear power plants we've got today. Yeah, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.480 these are the nuclear power plants that we've talked about 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.040 in previous episodes before thinking these are the ones that 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.000 are generated nuclear waste. One of the big problems with 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.800 these these UH facilities they rely on uranium. They rely 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:12.560 on uranium decay. Essentially, it's it's to create a nuclear 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.080 reaction that becomes self sustaining. Right, So you take a 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.800 piece of uranium and you get it nice and enriched 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.920 so that it is primed to have a runaway reaction 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:26.360 of sending off radiation particles and and and then you 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.440 set it going right and it keeps itself going, so 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.920 you don't have to continuously pour energy into maintain that reaction. 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.800 So how does that turn into electricity, Well, it generates 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.240 a lot of heat. That heat ends up converting water 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.560 into steam. So you're using water to help main manage 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:49.320 the temperature of this nuclear uh reactor, and it's also 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.439 being generated turned into steam. The steam ends up turning 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:57.000 steam turbines and then ends up being recycled back into 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.719 the system. Like the steam condenses into water and is 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.839 used to cool it again. Sometimes you have a paired 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.760 cooling system where you've got um the coolant. The actual 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.880 water that's cooling the the core is not the same 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.920 water that's going through the turbine system. I mean you 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.480 can pair it that way. So essentially you have two 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.560 pipes next to each other. One pipe is the steam 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:23.360 that's been generated from direct contact with the nuclear material, 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.600 and the other pipe is a closed system of water 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.960 that then gets converted into steam because the heat from 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.720 the first pipe. But in either case you're talking about 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.520 creating steam. It turns the turbine. The turbine generates electricity, 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.760 and that's where we get electricity from nuclear power plants. Right, Okay, 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.760 So fission is taking very elements, big chunks of elements 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.720 that are very heavy atoms, and breaking them apart into 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.880 little pieces to create heat that we translate to electricity. 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:54.160 Fusion is taking very small atoms and gluing them together, 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.440 and that's also an energetic reaction. It also produces energy 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:02.200 when that fusion between the atomic nuclei occur, right, And 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:06.120 it's creating energy in a different way. So if you 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.920 think about how you know it's it actually makes a 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.320 lot of sense. If you take a big, heavy atom 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.760 and you break it apart and you get energy in 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.680 the form of heat, then in order to fuse two 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.240 atoms together, you need heat. You need to pour energy 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:25.880 into the system to make them combined together. As a result, uh, 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:30.600 they will eject other particles. Now in in nuclear fission, 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.080 some of those particles include things like neutrons that can 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.160 cause real issues if you don't have a containment system 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:41.680 for them. And fusion, you're talking mainly about protons. Protons 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:43.400 are easier to control, and I'll get to that in 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.160 a second. So The other big difference is that you're 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:52.000 not turning water into steam. With nuclear fusion plants. You 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:58.800 actually get a net electrical um energy uh from this fusion. 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.640 So it's it's it's like imagine, imagine that the fusion 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.560 reactor has a big outlet and you just plug your 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.080 thing into that, and it would be generating the electricity 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.160 running the thing. Of course, it obviously doesn't work exactly 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.680 like that, but you are saying direct electricity generation. It 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.960 generates a pressure of electrons that will flow into an 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.760 electrical grid. Well, and it's a little more complicated than that. 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.480 You have to look at a an electro magnet system 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:28.479 which is specifically used to help control the the protons 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.400 that get ejected in this process. Uh. And that's partly 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.320 where you're starting to get some electrical output. But yes, 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.280 ultimately there's no conversion of water into steam in this 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.320 In this scenario, it's not unlike almost every other version 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.880 of electricity we've talked about, with possible exceptions like solar energy, 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:51.040 it doesn't involve converting water into steam to turn and turbine. 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:56.360 It is it is in itself a means of generating electricity. Now, 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.560 the old methods that I've heard when when people used 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.960 to talk years ago about creating fusion, what I always 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.080 heard for fusion power plants was that it would involve 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:11.080 harvesting deuterium from the ocean. Tritium in deuterium, I believe, 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.920 and those are also different isotopes of elements, but those 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:20.359 are isotopes of the element hydrogen. Deuterium is hydrogen atom 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:22.760 that has a proton and a neutron, and it's also 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:27.440 called heavy hydrogen. And tritium is is extremely heavy hydrogen, dude, 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.320 because that's a proton and two neutrons. Uh So, yeah, exactly, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.640 those were the ways that we thought about before. Now, obviously, 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.320 the other thing we should point out really quickly is fusion. 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:41.000 That's the same energy that we see in stars, right, 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.640 and typically what you hear is happening inside a star. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.720 I'm sure it's actually you know, a star specialist could 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:48.600 tell you that more is going on, but the basic 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.960 process is hydrogen fusing into helium and a temperature of 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.000 millions of degrees right, right, Because you know, they might 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.320 be giants taught us. Actually they were. They were covering 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.840 a song from an old kid's album. But that's beside 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.840 the point. Exactly though, and so the deuterium and tritium. Uh. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.000 The idea was that you could take these these isotopes 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:12.600 of hydrogen and fuse them together, and you would end 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:17.680 up with helium as one of your your byproducts. But 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.560 you would also end up getting neutrons that that would 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:26.040 be bounced off from this, uh, this fusing process, and 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.280 those neutrons are hard to control as opposed to protons. 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:33.640 And the reason why is that neutrons are have no charge. Right. So, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.520 imagine that you've got a material that has no magnetic 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.439 charge to it, and let's think of it like a uh, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.720 like a ceramic ball. Okay, so there's no magnetic there's 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.840 no magnetic activity here. It's a ceramic ball. It's a 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.879 big one. Let's say it's the size of a van 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.200 and it's rolling down a hill at you. You gotta 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.320 get out of the way. That ceramic ball. That's all 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.760 there is to it. Now, Let's say that instead of 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.160 it in a ceramic ball, it's something that can have 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.760 a charge to it and it's rolling down a hill 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.120 at you. But you have a really powerful electro magnet 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.880 that you have set to the opposite charge of that 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.520 giant thing. That's rolling towards you, and you flip a switch, 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.919 those opposite charges attract one another and it will slow 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.280 or even stop that charged ball from coming down and 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:23.800 crushing you. Yeah. Another way to think of it is 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.560 that protons are sticky and neutrons are not. And if 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.240 you have some the right kind of sticky fly paper 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.000 to attract some protons, you can catch them more easily 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.080 than you catch neutrons. And obviously, if you want to 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:41.080 control the the movement of particles that are going really 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:44.760 really super fast, you have to pour energy into the system. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.000 In order to do that. With neutrons, that ends up 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:50.440 becoming a big problem. It's it's one of the reasons why, 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.800 one of the many reasons why, uh, nuclear fusion reactions 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:58.920 have been difficult to sustain, where you get a reaction 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.359 that's greater than the amount of energy you poured into 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:03.840 the system in the first place. Okay, so we're talking 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:08.760 about the difference between fusion reactions that produce protons versus 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.000 fusion reactions that produce fast moving neutrons. But how does 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.320 that How is that relevant to helium three? So what's 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.520 the difference Using helium three as a fuel, infusion gets 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.760 you around the neutron problem depending upon what you pair 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.360 it with. Okay, so you're saying, if we go with 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.880 the old the idea of tritium and deuterium fusion, that's 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:32.000 more likely to produce these fast neutrons. And if you 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.840 use helium three and deuterium, then the fusion between those 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.560 two would result in helium four atom and and an 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:44.040 extra proton. Uh. But that's easier again to contain because 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:45.720 the proton has a charge. So you can use an 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:49.320 electromagnet that has a negative charge because protons have positive charge, 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.399 and be able to attract it that way and stop 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.760 it from you know, being such a like being akin 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.120 to a fast moving neutron um and so you would 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.560 have a really efficiency them that way, and it doesn't 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.320 generate nuclear waste. But you could also use helium three 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.880 with itself, so instead of helium three and deuterium being 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:13.159 merged together, you merge to helium three atoms together and 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.919 that would produce helium and two protons. But either way 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.960 this approach, you don't end up with a an unstable 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:24.360 isotope that leads to decay, which would be another way 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:28.320 of saying you don't have radioactivity brilliant. Okay, Well, so 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.760 now that we know this, let's just gather up tons 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:35.280 and tons of helium three from those natural gas reserves 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.040 and uh and make a fusion reactory that will provide 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.240 abundant clean energy without producing nuclear waste. That seems like 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.120 an easy win. Why aren't we doing that right now? 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:50.120 Hold on, slick. So the main reason is that, again, 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:55.480 helium four is overwhelmingly the type of helium we we 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.719 have here on Earth. Uh, to the point where getting 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:02.359 helium three, like any there, there's so little helium three 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.760 in the United States that it will blow your mind. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:10.080 So um, let's say that you know, you wanted to 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:13.520 have enough helium three to provide electricity to the United 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.280 States for an entire year, you would need about twenty 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.840 five tons more, give or take of helium three. Oh, 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:22.600 that's easy. The Earth's big. Yeah, right now we've got 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.679 of helium three in the United States. There's a large 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.480 gap you might notice, between what we need and what 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.440 we have. And and it's because it sounds more precious 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:38.120 than silver or gold. Yeah, and we don't have any 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.120 means of generating more of it in a way that 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:45.479 would be less problematic. For example, here's one way we 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:49.200 could generate helium three. You can just make it in 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.639 the lab, kind of if you think of a lab 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:56.679 as a nuclear fission reactor. So let's say you're using 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:02.119 a heavy water nuclear reactor. Heavy water nuclear reactors, you 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:06.399