Nuclear Fusion, explained for beginners

What’s really going on with nuclear fusion?? ‪@simonegiertz‬ and I try to explain...
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You’ve probably heard about nuclear fusion. Maybe you've heard recent news about the Livermore National Lab achieving a nuclear fusion breakthrough called "ignition" - meaning it produced more energy than it took to start the reaction. That's a huge deal! But it leaves other questions unanswered. I wanted to know more.

I started by asking the CEO of the nuclear fusion company Helion all my big questions: What is nuclear fusion, really? I know it happens on the sun, but how can we do it on earth? Are we doing it already? Then, I ask one last question: “I’ve heard about kids building fusion reactors in their moms’ garage… if fusion is so hard… what are THEY doing?” The answer sets off the most fun and ambitious Huge If True episode yet.

It turns out that you can actually BUILD a nuclear fusion device. So I team up with my friend Simone Giertz to try. When something goes wrong, it turns into an explainer on what’s really going on with the world’s most-hyped energy source.

Special thanks to Jessie, Ron and Joben at Helion for helping set up such an exciting shoot (and not giving up!). And thank you to Anna Bresnahan for helping shoot this episode!

Chapters:
00:00 We tried to build a nuclear fusion reactor
03:07 What IS nuclear fusion?
04:51 Thank you, Oura!
05:31 How close are we to nuclear fusion?
07:30 How does nuclear fusion work?
08:31 How does the sun do fusion?
09:21 Magnetic confinement fusion
09:52 Inertial confinement fusion
10:37 Magneto-inertial confinement fusion
11:01 What does fusion LOOK like?
12:03 Why CAN'T we do fusion?
13:33 Why do we need fusion?

Correction:
07:48 In plasma, one or more electrons are torn free from an atom (as opposed to protons and neutrons themselves being "broken into bits"!)

Sources and further reading:
Watch more from Simone here:    / simonegiertz  
The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet, by Arthur Turrell: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Builders-...
The Future of Fusion Energy, by Jason Parisi and Justin Ball: https://www.amazon.com/Future-Fusion-...
Atomic Awakening: A New Look At The History And Future Of Nuclear Power, by James Mahaffey: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Awakeni...
Principles Of Fusion Energy: An Introduction To Fusion Energy For Students Of Science And Engineering: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Fus...
“Nuclear fusion power inches closer to reality,” Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/techno...
“Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy,” BBC:    • Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion ...  
“Fusion Power Explained: Future or Failure,” Kurzgesagt:    • Fusion Power Explained – Future or Fa...  
“How Helion’s approach to fusion works”    • Helion's approach to fusion: How it w...  
“We Went Inside the Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor, The B1M:    • We Went Inside the Largest Nuclear Fu...  
“Why Private Billions Are Flowing Into Fusion,” Bloomberg:    • Why Private Billions Are Flowing Into...  

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Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

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Camera: Sony A7SIII
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Music: Musicbed

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—
Welcome to the joke down low:

How does a nuclear physicist ask for a salary increase?
Gamma rays.

Find a way to use the word “rays” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one ;)