How to harness the power of the sun? That’s a big endeavor! Scientists have been on a quest to harness the power of the sun for almost 100 years. Why? Because the sun’s power is the best renewable energy source for the future.
HOW TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE SUN!
To understand why the sun is the best renewable energy source for the future and how to harness the power of the sun, let’s start with a few cool facts about the sun so we’re on the same page. My blog page! Ha
COOL FACTS ABOUT THE SUN
The Sun is the only star in our solar system
The Sun is in the center of our solar system
Sun = Life on EarthI want to stay with plasma, because plasma is a critical factor in how to harness the power of the sun! So what is plasma, exactly!
WHAT IS PLASMA & WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE SUN?
The Sun is a giant ball of boiling plasma!
What is plasma?
Our Sun produces light & energy that everyone can see and feel, in plasma. The sun does this via a process called nuclear fusion.
WHAT IS NUCLEAR FUSION?
NUCLEAR FUSION: PLASMA'S HIGH HEAT IS KEY
The high temperature of plasma provides the small atoms with enough energy to overcome their mutual electrical repulsion
Once the nuclei come within close range of each other, the attractive nuclear force between them will outweigh the electrical repulsion & allow them to fuse.
NUCLEAR FUSION : ANOTHER REQUIREMENT
For nuclear fusion to happen, the nuclei must be confined within a small space to increase the chances of collision.
In the sun, the extreme pressure produced by its immense gravity creates the conditions for fusion.
A QUICK WORD ON NUCLEAR FUSION VERSUS NUCLEAR FISSION
Nuclear fusion is essentially the opposite of nuclear fission.
With fusion, lighter nuclei are fused into a heavier nucleus.
People are generally afraid of nuclear fission. That said, there has never been a single injury or death due to radiation in any public nuclear power plant in the U.S.
- The 103 nuclear power plants operating in the U.S. deliver approximately 19.4% of US electricity with zero greenhouse gas emission.
- There are 600 coal-burning electric plants in the US delivering 48.5% of American electricity
- The coal burning plants produce 2 billion tons of CO2 annually, accounting for 10% of global emissions.
In the eyes of the public, nuclear fission is still controversial. Ever since the 1979 incident at Three Mile Island (which resulted in no injuries or deaths due to excellent failsafe measures and it’s been disproven that there was not an increase in cancer in local residents), there has not been a nuclear power plant built in the U.S.
Of course, Chernobyl in 1986 did not help matters, but human error did contribute.
I did digress, I admit it. While we’re on the topic of clean energy, rare earth metals have been in the news. I break it all down for you in this post about rare earth metals.
Back to nuclear fusion and how to harness the power of the Sun!
BEST RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE FUTURE
What is nuclear fusion? I’m sure you can guess with my cool facts about the sun and obsession about what is plasma, that the best renewable energy source for the future is….nuclear fusion!
Scientists want to recreate the process of nuclear fusion here on Earth & collect the energy to make electricity.
The promise and potential benefits to humankind from this carbon-free energy source are enormous.
REASONS WHY FUSION POWER IS THE BEST SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE FUTURE
HOW TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE SUN VIA NUCLEAR FUSION
No, plants don’t use nuclear fusion to create energy. They create their energy from the sun via photosynthesis!
We humans have a few problems to overcome to make nuclear fusion for energy a reality.
TWO MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH FUSION DEVELOPMENT
1---Finding a practical means for generating the intense temperature needed.
2---Developing a container that will not melt under the conditions of a fusion reaction.
The pursuit of how to harness the power of the sun is, ‘one of the most challenging programs of scientific research & development that has ever been undertaken.”
In August 2022, at the National Ignition Facility, an experiment produced a record 1.3 million joules of fusion energy, which is 70% of the energy needed to break even. 31% more and we’ll be creating electricity via a fusion reaction here on Earth!
We are on the verge of a new age in fusion science, thanks in a large part to plasma physics, tireless scientists, and our dollars that are funneled towards scientific research!
For more reading about elements, atoms, and atomic attraction, along with super fun experiments you can do with your kids, pick up my book! Click on the photo below for an amazon affiliate link to purchase. (yes, a shameless plug)
I had no idea that scientists were working on nuclear fusion. This is very cool and important! Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
Thank you for stopping by!
I finally understand the difference between nuclear fusion and fission, thanks to you. You make science far more accessible and fun than any of my teachers. (sorry teachers)
Thank you for the lovely compliment! I’m happy that you like my approach!
I had no idea about any of this! Really informative post, thank you for sharing
I’m gratified that you picked up a few facts! Thank you so much!
I always learn so much when I read your posts; it shows that there is so much we can benefit from knowing!
‘Knowledge is power,’ said someone wise! ha. Kidding aside, I agree with you. We can only benefit from learning the facts. Thank you, Molly.
Don’t forget the two nuclear incidents in Japan. If we could just find a solution to dealing with the waste, it’d be a great system. But until then, clean renewable energy production is our best option, in my opinion at least
Yes, there have been more fission incidents, thank you for pointing them out! I didn’t want this post to turn into a bash against nuclear fission so I stopped myself. Waste is a huge problem (look at my post about space junk!) I agree with you. Clean renewable energy is what we need. I think nuclear fusion is a great way to go! Thank you so much.
A lot of very smart scientists out there (and a smart writer summarizing their findings)! I’m sipping iced tea and my ‘little gray cells’ are growing 🙂 Thanks!
I’m all in for gray matter growth! And iced tea. (In fact here’s a cool piece all about the legend of tea.) Thank you so much, Eileen!
Interesting post and an important topic! My home has solar panels, and most months we produce more energy than we use.
P.S. not sure Louie loved the wig, but he looked cute.
Fantastic about your solar panels often producing more energy than you use! No Louie doesn’t like wigs too much but that’s the price he pays for science! Thank you!
I love that researchers and scientists are devoting time to finding clean energy sources, and I have to agree that there is no more an abundant supply of constant energy than the sun. Nuclear fusion sounds like it has some incredible benefits, and it would be amazing to see the world be able to shift toward these types of energy sources. Thanks for sharing!
I love that researchers are working on clean energy sources, too! I think nuclear fusion will become a reality in our lifetimes! Thank you so much.
loved reading this and learning. Thank you
And thank you for stopping by!
I teach in English and in one of the course books nuclear fusion was mentioned, however, it wasn’t explained. Now I can tell my students about it if they ask. Thanks for posting this.
Fantastic! I’m so happy that I could help. Thanks!
Excellent breakdown of fusion versus fission. Another superlative science post.
Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate it!
Wow! I haven’t heard of this before, what amazing work. Science is an incredible thing. Thank you for sharing.
Lauren
I agree, this is amazing work! Go, scientists. Thank you so much!
Amazing how you simplify science making it accessible and interesting, thanks.
Wow, thank you so much! That’s high praise. You’re welcome, and thank you for taking the time to comment!
This was one of your best post I feel. You have a very unique way of making complicated things easier to understand. maybe with all the recent natural disasters people will understand that we have to go in this direction to save what we have left of this earth. Thanks again. Mike
We do need to go in this direction, absolutely! It’s not an easy task, so imho, grants and tax dollars must go toward research. I’m optimistic that scientists will persevere and succeed. Thank you for the kind words too, Mike!
This is interesting, I would love to know more about the sun and power. Thank you for sharing!
I’m happy that you found my post interesting! Thank you so much!
Wow! My mind is blown away, I have to say. I learned so much from your blog and you’ve taken great care to present your information in a way that is funa and relatively easy to grasp. Thank you 😊
You’re making me smile before 7 AM! That’s quite a feat, Bertha. (jk!) Thank you so much!
I actually met a guy who is working on this the other month! My husband is a physics teacher and we went to the wedding of a physics professor and there was someone there who works on this stuff. Amazing!
Corinne, that is absolutely amazing that you met a physicist at a wedding! I would have talked his poor ear off! And your husband is a physics teacher. How cool. Thank you for sharing!
Such an entertaining post, as usual.
Thanks for the chocolate!
You break heavy subjects down into an easy-to-follow format. This concept is pretty mind blowing & hope it happens!
Mind-blowing! You nailed the perfect way to describe nuclear fusion on Earth! I’m happy that you found my post easy-to-follow! High praise. Thank you.
So thorough and this had a lot of science info for one. Interesting how there has been no accidents ever be it there. Though it remains a controversial topic and radiation. Great one. Xx
Isa A. Blogger
Yes, you have a good point about what to do with the fission by-products. A tricky topic, to be sure. That’s why fusion is so ideal! No radioactive waste. Thank you so much, Isa!
This was all so interesting and informative! Thanks so much for sharing. I enjoyed reading this post!
And I enjoyed you reading my post! Thank you so much.