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Researchers from China's Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences annoncé China's 'artificial sun' just became known as the nuclear fusion experiment on Earth – literally, with the plasma reaching 100 million degrees Celsius.
For some perspective, our solar system 's real Sun is only about 15 million degrees Celsius in comparison.
While 100 million degrees Celsius is thought to be important for nuclear energy researchers, it is thought to be the minimum temperature needed for self-sustaining nuclear fusion on Earth.
Representational image.
The artificial Sun (not to be confused with the 'artificial moons'China to be up to date soon), is one of the most promising nuclear fusion experiments to date. Designed to replicate the process Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) fusion reactor in 2006.
A 'Tokamak' is a reactor design that assembles a donut – a donut that generates powerful magnetic forces to contain unimaginably hot plasma inside the nuclear fusion reactor. The walls of a reactor are built to absorb massive amounts of heat from the continuous splitting of the reactor's core.
The record breaking East reactor disguising any and all signs of its enormous power. Shorty image: VCG
The process of nuclear fusion, where two hydrogen atoms combine in a reaction that produces an enormous amount of energy, is often called the 'great white whale' of global energy. Nuclear reactors like EAST are a means to exactly that: an almost infinite supply of energy that is clean.
One of the few hurdles to unleashing nuclear fusion as an energy source is sustaining the fusion reaction for longer than a handful of minutes. The longest recorded reaction was in the Tore Supra tokamak in France (also known as WEST), for 6 minutes and 30 seconds in 2003.
Between the records set by EAST and WEST, could the world have an artificial light?
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