Worth noting: Nuclear fusion with mayonnaise | Change Company

But it’s not easy: for now, creating, heating and controlling it requires more energy than nuclear fusion produces. However, initial successes are being achieved. For example, a small reactor from the American nuclear fusion company Zap Energy recently reached a temperature of 37 million degrees. And Japan has already produced plasma, the gas needed to fuse atomic nuclei.

plasma

The idea behind nuclear fusion is that fusion must occur in a plasma. One of the main challenges here is allowing the plasma mixture to absorb enough energy so that it is maintained as a plasma.

mayonnaise

To better understand plasma, mayonnaise could be a useful tool. Researchers at Lehigh University in the US are already experimenting with it. “Mayonnaise behaves like a solid, but under pressure it starts to flow, which is similar to how plasma behaves under similar conditions,” they say. He believes Arindam Banerjee of Lehigh University.

The research team uses a specially designed rotating cylinder to simulate plasma flow conditions. Using mayonnaise, they can study the physics of plasma flows without the extreme temperatures and pressures typically required in fusion experiments. Not only is it easier, it’s also several times cheaper.

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The idea is that scientists will learn more about how plasma behaves thanks to mayonnaise. This is important because for nuclear fusion to work, plasma must absorb enough energy. Based on the research, existing fusion reactors could, for example, be modified or new ones could be developed. This would bring nuclear fusion as an energy source one step closer.

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