WEBVTT - Going Nuclear 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.200 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:15.360 Forward Thinking. Welcome everyone to Forward Thinking, the audio podcast 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.560 where we think about the future talk about what is 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:20.840 to come. Today, we're going to talk a little bit 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.919 about fusion and what that is. I am Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.920 I'm Lauren Vocaldon, and I'm Joe McCormick. And so fusion. Yeah, 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.680 we're talking about nuclear reactions. And uh, you guys might 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.320 be familiar with the fact that the world has lots 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.960 of nuclear reactors already, So why aren't we talking about 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.800 fusion as being in the future. Uh, And the reason 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:41.560 for that is the nuclear reactors that are out there, 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:43.280 I mean the majority of the ones that are actually 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:48.279 generating power than well, because there are experimental all the 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:50.639 ones that are hooked up to a grid. Yeah, are 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.440 fission based, which is where you are essentially, you're you're 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.640 making Adam split apart. In the case of nuclear fission, 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.880 you're using a a type of uranium, and the uranium 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.280 is is going through radioactive decay, which gives off a 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.759 lot of heat. Uranium it's it's because it's heavy, right, 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.399 it's a huge atom. Well, it's it's heavy it's heavy 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.080 and and it does decay right like, especially when you're 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.559 getting it. The specific type of uranium used in nuclear 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.759 reactions is different than just like if you found unrefined uranium. 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.959 It's this is refined uranium that that decays at a 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:30.440 predictable rate and as it as it decays, it spontaneously 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:35.040 causes other atoms in the uranium to decay, so it starts. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.280 Once the reaction starts, it kind of maintains itself for 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.680 a certain amount of time. And what you're essentially doing 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:46.280 is you are you're you're submerging these these radioactive uranium 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:48.960 rods in water, which converts the water into steam that 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:54.360 then turns steam turbines. It's not terribly efficient, but it 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.880 does generate an awful lot of electricity. It's more efficient 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.080 than say a coal generator that is burning coal to 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.080 heat water into steam to turn Yeah, it's it's more 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.280 more efficient than coal combustion. And uh, you know, you're 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.120 generating an entirely different kind of waste instead of instead 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.600 of greenhouse gas emissions, you're you've got this kind of 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:18.040 nuclear material that's radioactive and harmful to humans, and we'll 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:22.880 be radio radioactive for a very long time, as it 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.080 turns out. But well, we'll talk about in another episode 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.160 of this of this show, we'll talk about kind of 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.840 a way of trying to use that nuclear to waste 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.000 in a a in a smart way. Okay, So what 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.480 happens in these reactions? We we say that we're splitting 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.960 a heavy atom? Right, Yeah? Why does that create so 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.280 much energy? I bet this has something to do with Einstein, doesn't? Yes? 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.519 It does. Well, you know, for for one thing, you're 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.880 talking about mass and mass converting into energy. You've heard 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.959 of a little equation equals mc squared, right, and that 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.720 that tells us that matter and energies are in some 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.079 way equivalent. Right, Yes, one can produce another, right if 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.120 you if you go back far enough. According to the 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.560 Big Bang theory, there was a point where energy and 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.760 mass were one thing, and then they kind of split apart. 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.120 So they are intrinsically connected to one another. And so 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:17.040 if you were to convert matter into energy, you get 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.240 a lot of it because you take that mass and 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.080 you multiply it by C squared. C squared that's the 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.040 speed of light squared. So a little bit of mass 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.760 times the speed of light, which is pretty big and 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.040 you square that, then you get the equivalent amount of 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:35.800 energy out. That's a lot of energy for just a 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.920 tiny bit of mass. So even on the atomic level, 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:40.800 you're talking about lots of energy when you have these 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.920 these reactions. Now that's fission. Uh. Fusion is something different. 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:51.360 Fusion is what happens in the sun. So you know, right, yes, yes, Uh, 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.480 it's when instead of splitting atoms, you are fusing them. Yeah. 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:59.640 Celestial stars, by the way, not stars. Um first, well, 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:01.880 it's do this and and and As much as I 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:04.280 would love to go on about how the Sun is 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.120 a massive incandescent gas, the gigant techniclear fairness, where hydrogen 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.240 is built into helium and a temperature millions of degrees. Uh. 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.800 Which is a song that they Might Be Giants made popular. 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.720 It was actually a song that was on a science 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:21.720 album for kids. I have the original track. It's amazing, 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.960 but they Might Be Giants actually went back and corrected 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.680 that because, of course science has later found that that's 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.360 kind of an oversimplification of what the sun is cover 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.360 going on and ignoring Joe. Uh. So, fusion is when 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.560 you are fusing two atoms together. Generally speaking, you want 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.520 to start with light atoms and fuse them. And the 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.840 way you have to do this is, well, there are 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.000 certain fundamental forces that are in the universe. Okay, You've 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.800 got an electromagnetic force, that's one of them. And then 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.160 there's the strong nuclear force. Now, strong nuclear force, that's 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.720 the force that holds these sub atomic particles together. And 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.680 it's really really strong. But it were works on incredibly 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.760 short distances. Okay, so when it when it comes into effect, 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.640 it's incredibly strong. Okay. But so in a fusion reaction, 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.680 you're you're taking little hydrogen atoms, the smallest atoms that 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.719 there are, single proton, and you're fusing them together to 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:23.120 create helium atoms which have two protons. Right, if we have, 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:27.239 say a hydrogen balloon, why doesn't this happen inside the balloon. 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.679 Why don't the hydrogen atoms spontaneously fused together to create 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.839 helium atoms? All? Right? That distance is a really big 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.400 problem because when I'm saying really close distance, I'm talking 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:44.000 really really close to one trillion of a millimeter, I think, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.400 is how close things have to be diffused. Now, those 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.479 protons that are in a hydrogen atom, they have a 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.880 positive charge, right, So positive charges don't like each other, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.240 like charges repel one another, right right, Like, So if 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.120 you take two positive ends of a magnet and try 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.240 to smooh them together, Yeah, you're gonna feel that push. 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.359 It'll it'll feel like it's pushing against you. So what 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.159 you have to do is you have to actually get 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.240 those atoms close enough. Uh. You have to overcome the 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:14.160 electromagnetic force, so that the strong nuclear force takes hold, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.920 which requires you to put a lot of energy into 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.200 the system for this to work. Now, with the Sun, 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.560 that energy ends up being gravity and heat. You've got 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.360 this intense amount of heat in the Sun. It's stripping 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.880 the protons of their electrons. It's becoming a plasma. A 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:32.159 plasma is an ionized gas, and it's exactly what it 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.559 sounds like. You've got ions. These are charged atoms because 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.880 they have either gained or lost an electron. In this case, 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:42.960 lost electrons um it's and those electrons roam freely throughout 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.600 the plasma. So anyway you've got you have to create 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:49.760 a plasma first, so you have to pour energy into it. 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:56.000 Plasma it's like fire. It's incredibly hot. Saying that plasma 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.800 is like fires like saying a fumble of water is 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.760 like an ocean, yes, but not but it doesn't get 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:08.400 the scale. Yeah, so very pressurized. Right, So you've got 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:12.960 you've got this incredibly hot uh, these incredibly hot atoms 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.280 that are getting closer and closer to each other. You're 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.200 forcing them together and then if they get close enough, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.480 that strong nuclear force is going to be strong enough 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.000 to bind them two together. Now here's the really interesting thing. Uh, 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.880 the mass of that new nucleus in the case of 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.600 hydrogen becoming helium, the mass of that new nucleus is 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:37.440 actually less than the product of the two hydrogen nuclei. 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.840 So that makes me wonder if that mass went somewhere 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.680 it did? You've that that mass that is lost when 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.240 these two atoms, these two nuclei fused together to make 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:53.040 one nucleus, is converted into energy, which is energy in 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.000 the form of heat. So again, if you create a 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.800 fusion reaction, it creates a lot of heat, which can 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.360 you know, depending on how you use it, can actually 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.680 help create more reactions down the line, like in say 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:10.640 the sun. Um. So the challenge here, you've got the 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:12.720 the equals mc squared again, so you get a lot 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.200 of energy for this tiny little sub atomic particle that 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.400 you know, this nucleus that is slightly less mass than 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.920 the product of the two nuclear that formed it. You 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:23.440 get a lot of energy out of that, but but 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.240 you have to pour a lot of energy into the 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.560 system first to even get to that fusion reaction. And 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.240 that's the problem that we have right now, is the 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.520 idea of how do we do this in such an 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:38.080 efficient way that the energy we get out makes sense 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:42.920 compared to energy we pour in now, or it's significantly greater. Yeah, 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.000 if we if we can do that, if we can 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:49.680 figure that out, fusion has some amazing promises you're talking 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.520 about as an energy sources, as a source of just 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.160 great electricity like vission. Right exactly. If if we can 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.080 get to the point where we have solved the problem 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.760 of of getting more energy out of this process than 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:07.080 we have to create to put into it, then because 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.920 we're talking about things like hydrogen, you could end up 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.040 with an energy surplus pretty quickly. Yeah. Well, don't they say, 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.360 I mean the amount of energy you get out of 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.640 a fusion burn is it's hundreds of millions of times 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.320 more than the energy you get from an equivalent fossil 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.360 fuel burn. Depending on how many reactions you're talking about. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.760 I think it's actually four million times if I think 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.800 about it, like if you're talking about one single reaction, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:34.840 it's like four million times the amount of energy would 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.719 get out of burning coal or oil. And I mean 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.640 that's incredible, right, And I mean that's like the the 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.280 you know, these tiny little reactions that do require a 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.400 lot of energy to start them. No, no carbon emissions, 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:50.960 right right, and uh, plentiful resources. Right. So how if 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.360 you want to make a fusion reactor reactor here on Earth, 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.800 what do you have to put into it? Well, at first, 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.959 you've got to create a reactor that can withstand tremendous 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:01.920 amount of heat. All right, we'll get there in a minute. 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.720 But what is the fuel. It's it's two isotopes of hydrogen, 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.040 and an isotope means that it's a it's an atom 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.200 of that element with a different number of neutrons. Yeah. Yeah, 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.920 you have to get that to fuse them together. Yes, 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:19.880 and you and the two you need are deuterium and tritium. Yeah, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.200 those are the ones that are currently being used. Yeah. 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.520 Those are not hard to get at all. From what 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.600 I read like, deuterium is just abundant in the ocean. 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.200 You you scoop up some ocean water and a glass 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:34.000 and there's deuterium in it, right, Yeah. I've often refused 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.679 to go into the ocean because it was just deterium 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.440 with it. Yeah yeah, but now yeah, that's and smell 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.000 the deuterium in the air. The other I think is 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.480 a created from from lithium, I believe, and so it's 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:49.320 a little yeah yeah, so it's it's a little bit 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.040 more expensive and to produce. Currently, the two different kinds 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.959 of of fusion reactors that they use both have a 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.000 deuterium and tritium reactions, and they're working on some that 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.560 are a duty arium deuterium reactions, which would be a 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.839 lot easier because since the tritium is made from lithium, 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.120 it's kind of expensive, and then you could just use 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.920 the seawater essentially. In any case, the fuel is totally abundant, right, 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.640 much more so than for example, uranium, right fuels exactly, 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.120 So then that there you have an energy surplus, which 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.600 would be an amazing and kind of like unimaginable world 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.800 compared to the one we live in right now. So 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.240 I etricity is free, then we can do as much 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.319 as we want, Well, maybe not free, because there are 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.120 some challenges, right, right, right, So there's the challenge of 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.920 building a reactor that's going to withstand the heat. If 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.960 it's this, if it's this greater deal, why aren't we 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:39.880 doing it yet? That's part of it is that it's 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.400 expensive to build a reactor that can withstand the tremendous 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.320 amount of heat that would be given off. And again, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:49.040 the reaction here, the fusion reaction, that heat that you're generating, 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.080 you're doing it. You're doing the same thing with that 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.719 heat that you would do with the fission reactor. You're 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.480 using it to heat up water to turn steam turbines. 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.439 It's not magic, yeah, yeah, the fusan the fusion doesn't 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.120 just automatic create electricity and suddenly all the lights go 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.760 bright in the entire city. It's actually turning steam turbine. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.400 But we are talking about like a hundred million kelvin 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.600 something on that magnitude like actually like six times hotter 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.480 than the Sun, I believe times. Then the core of 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.439 the Sun, well, see the core of the Sun, and 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.880 so the fusion reactions go on in the core of 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:25.240 the Sun. And so but it's got its tremendous gravity 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.120 to help it. Out here on Earth, we don't have 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.640 that kind of gravity. So, right, the Sun's a pressure cooker, 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:32.960 and our reactor would not be a pressure cook right, 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.280 not in the same way at least, So you've got 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.440 to find a way to contain this heat. And obviously, 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:40.560 if you think about it like um, if this is 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.480 something that's causing hydrogen atoms to fuse together and you 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.760 put it against any material surface, it's going to melt it. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.240 You know, it's it's going to cause major damage that 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.920 the reactor won't be able to sustain itself. So what 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.640 do you do. You have to contain that plasma in 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.679 some way, in a way that it doesn't have contact 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.480 with the outer walls of the containment chamber. And there 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.560 are two main methods that we've used to try and 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:12.440 control plasma. Each way has multiple versions of it, but 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.680 the two main ways we're using lasers or as I 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:21.359 used to say on textuff lasers, that's that's inertial confinement, 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.200 yes uh. And then there's h using magnetism. So you're 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.560 trying to contain the plasma so that it's the reactions 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.800 are happening exactly where you want them to. It's not 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.440 going to. I mean, heat is not something that radiates 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:38.440 out indefinitely, so it dissipates very quickly. Actually, so you 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:42.040 can have a very intensely hot reaction happening and a 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.960 very localized point and not melt the surface of the earth. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.480 You know. It's not not like we suddenly see the 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.559 fusion reaction go out of control and goodbye, you know, Seattle. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:58.000 It's not not quite that that dramatic. But but but 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.000 the magnetism was the one that I think has received 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:05.320 the most attention recently. That's the method that was used 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.480 at the joint European Taurus or Jet reactor. And then 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:14.240 for us, that's the word. It means doughnut basically, right, Okay, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.839 it does, Actually it means bear claw. Now, Taurus is 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.920 a it's a shape. It's a three dimensional shapes like 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.120 what we would call it donut. Yeah. Yeah, Well, it 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.640 turns out that the easiest way to get plasma to 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:30.000 flow this this crazy hydrogen plasma to flow through this 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.240 magnetic field is in a donut shape. And we're talking 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.480 about a doughnut that's like a hundred feet tall, ways 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:38.320 twenty three thousand tons um and is made of some 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.280 million parts. So yeah, it's the Homer Simpson dream donut. Yes, 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:46.480 yes so. Uh so JET the Joint European Taurus UH 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.600 used this magnetic confinement method and UH and at its 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.440 at its height, was able to produce reactions where they 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.040 would get a little over half the amount of energy 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.320 they needed to to start the reaction. So, in other words, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.000 their efficiency was somewhere around in the mid sixty percentile. 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.080 So that's not great. I mean, obviously you're you're losing energy. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:14.360 It's very promising, it's pretty cool, but yeah, yeah, you couldn't. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.120 That wouldn't be a power generator. That would be a 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.400 power sink because you would always be putting more power 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.600 into starting the reaction than you were getting out of 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.920 the reaction. But there are other facilities that are similar 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.720 to the JET one that are in various stages of 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.440 construction right now that may give off way more energy 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:37.440 than it was required to start, like the International Thermonuclear 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:43.480 Experimental Reactor or EITER, which is in France, but its 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.600 supposed to generate ten times more power that requires to 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:51.320 to start the fusion process. So if it's you know, 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.240 even even then it's just the beginning, right, ten times 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.800 what you put into it is. It sounds great, but uh, 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:02.000 but we only hopefully go up from there. Sure, fusion 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.120 is one of those funny things that for years and 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.800 years people have been saying it's right around the corner, 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.200 and it's never We've never gone around that corner. Yet 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.400 it's always it's always twenty to fifty years away. It's 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.320 why all super fancy technology. Yeah, it's one of those 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.400 things where, like like the singularity, it's always twenty to 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.360 fifty years away. But we have made real progress. We have, 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.160 we have we're a lot closer than we used to be, 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.200 and we do need to take just a quick moment 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:33.280 to talk about cold fusion. Which is cold fusion well, 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:34.880 we don't even have to say the quote. I mean, 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:39.280 it's it's an accepted term for something that is unproven scientific. 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.840 Imagine people who people who advocate it don't like that 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.120 term anymore, do they? That they try to like hide 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:49.600 it under different terminology. Pons and Fleischmann, the paraphysicists who 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:54.440 became famous for experiments that they thought proved or at 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.360 least indicated that cold fusion is a thing. And by 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.480 the way, cold fusion is this idea that you can 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:06.960 create fusion reactions among certain light atomic elements at close 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.560 to room temperature, so so so that energy barrier that 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.840 you need to make the reaction start goes away. Well, 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:15.480 I mean, and if this were true, it would be 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:17.800 a miracle. It would just I mean, we would have 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.600 limitless energy right now. It would be Doc Browne's mr 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:22.719 fusion on the back of it. Would Yeah, I mean 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.840 we would. Everyone could have a fusion reactor at home 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.360 that would provide more than enough power to run absolutely everything, 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.680 all the time, every day, and there would never be 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.520 there wouldn't even be a need for an electric grid anymore. 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.000 You can see why people would want it. Yeah, The 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.720 problem is that the science just doesn't seem to work out. 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:44.800 But Ponds and Fleishman did some, uh some studies that 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.959 initially seemed very promising. A few labs even reported that 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.560 they had replicated the results, but upon further examination, it 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.840 seemed like all the results were brought into question. There 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.480 were questions about measurement techniques, about the equipment that was 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.320 actually being used to take measurements, about the fact that 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.800 some of the results were falling within the margin of error, 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:06.680 which means that you can't really be sure that you're 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.840 looking at a result. Um. The whole thing that they 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.200 were saying was that they were getting more energy out 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.520 of a reaction than they expected. Like it was it 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:19.320 was beyond what the what science would tell you would 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.040 happen based upon what was going on. But it hasn't 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.000 borne any fruit, despite the fact that both Ponds and 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:30.080 Fleischmann for many years continued to uh to to really 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.400 work in this They they originally called it infusion. That's 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.720 not a joke, that really is true. Uh, they call 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.240 it infusion. It was t that not like the letter 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.000 in an infusion, which is weird. Which is weird because 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.440 if you know anything about if you if you know 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.760 anything about in rays, in rays were something that, uh 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.320 that some scientists believed were a thing until they tried 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.719 to look into it and realized there was nothing there 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.399 like in rays where these things that existed until you 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.960 looked for them, and then they didn't. So it seems 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:02.359 to me, it seems funny to me that you would 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.399 call it in fusion within rays being such a big 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.240 scandal in the scientific community. But anyway, uh, cold fusion. Yeah, 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.760 it just didn't seem to have any merit to it. 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:14.280 And there have been a lot of people who looked 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.600 into it since then. There are plenty of people out 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.720 there on the Internet who really hope that it turns 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:22.760 out that cold fusion really does have something to it 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.560 and it makes sense, right, Like that would solve everyone's 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:31.040 problems for energy. Yeah, Sadly, from my own personal perspective, 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.480 I think you might as well wish for fairies and 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:38.399 clap your hands based upon the scientific evidence that we 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:40.400 have in front of us. Now, that's not to say 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.040 that someone won't find some way of making it work 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.200 in the future. Maybe they will, but based upon what 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:51.720 we know right now, it seems unlikely, like, well, incredibly unlikely. 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:54.920 But this doesn't mean now Here's one of the main 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:58.560 reasons I think we needed to bring this up is that, um, 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.160 people hear about the fail years of cold fusion, and 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.040 they that makes them think, oh, fusion, it's a fusion. 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:12.440 Hot fusion has serious potential, right Yeah, No, hot fusion 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.400 is definitely one of those things that could work if 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:18.160 we get the system efficient enough. Like if I turn, 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.680 if the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor does in fact work out, 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:26.000 then that will show that fusion is a viable means 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.840 of generating energy. And that, and we know it's legitimate, 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:33.480 the son's there, but but whether or not we can 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:35.960 harness it in a way that makes sense is still 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:40.800 the question. Uh. It does look promising, but even even 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.160 the optimists are still saying it's, you know, thirty forty 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.720 years away, So, uh, what is it here? Lockheed skunk 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:50.840 Work says that they can make fusion work in the 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.520 next few years. Well yeah, but then it'll only work 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:59.640 in area fifty one anyway, So it's a really interesting 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.560 con sept. I really hope it does work out. It 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.840 would be a huge benefit and the idea of you know, 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.119 think about it, if you're if you're using this this 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.080 method to create energy, then you suddenly that the whole 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.360 question about how do we create clean energy is answered 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.760 and we don't have to you know, things like wind 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:21.080 turbines and solar farms, which are you know, problematic right now, 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.240 inefficient Relatively they're relatively inefficient. You have to find very 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:28.800 specific places to be able to harness that kind of stuff. 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:31.520 And uh, you know, there's a question of whether or 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.200 not the amount we could harvest would meet our demand. 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.000 This would answer all those questions. Me we would easily 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.560 meet our demand. For at least the foreseeable future. You know, 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:42.880 never say never. Eventually we could get to a point 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:45.600 where even fusion might seem like, well, we need the 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:47.840 next big thing. But at that point we'd probably be 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.800 off planet Earth and yeah, we just be harnessing the 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.840 stars themselves, which we are going to talk about at 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.440 some point, yeah we will, but not today. Today, we're 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:58.800 going to wrap this up. So guys, if you have 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.959 enjoyed this, if you have of suggestions for future topics, 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.119 if you want to chime in on the discussion about fusion, 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.160 and if you want to say that I'm a denier 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:08.480 because I don't think cold fusion is gonna work, you 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.000 can let us know. We have our website at f 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.480 w thinking dot com. You can read our blogs, you 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:16.840 can watch the videos, you can listen to the podcasts, 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:18.959