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the future of nuclear fusion

10/22/2015

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Friday, October 23rd (10/23) is Mole Day!  Ask your class why it’s at 6:23am/6:23pm.
 
Some of my
Mole related blog posts include: Celebrating Mole Day on 10/20/14;  …Mole Labs in My Book on 10/23/2014; Mole Mathematics on 10/15/15; and, …Mole Conversions and [the] Moletown Map on 1/10/14.  Check them out!
 
For inexpensive chemistry labs to expand your repertoire, buy my lab book
Chemistry on a Budget for $21 at amazon.com or $23 at lulu.com.
 

http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 

It will take a week or so to get to you, so Order Now!
 
*Some of you have purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
A recent article about nuclear fusion at the CNN website is a useful source of discussion and inquiry:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/06/tech/pioneers-nuclear-fusion/index.html
 
Nuclear Fusion has been discussed in past blog posts, Introduction to Nuclear Chemistry on 2/11/15 and Nuclear Chemistry – Part II … on 2/18/15. 
 
In this article, the
terms deuterium and tritium (two isotopes of hydrogen) are used.  Isotopes are discussed in the blog post dated 02/26/14.
  

Nuclear Fusion is the combining or fusing of small nuclei where mass is lost and converted to energy.  Bringing particles carrying the same electric charge requires a great deal of energy to overcome the repulsive forces -- remember, like charges repel! 
 
Overcoming the repulsive forces is accomplished at very high temperatures (about 200 million degrees Celsius) – the difficulty of accomplishing this is (a) producing more energy than is consumed and (b) containing the super-hot, charged gas (plasma) without touching and damaging the equipment.
 
Several ideas and designs are currently being developed.  This topic could be a source of (1) a Homework article to be summarized, (2) Extra Credit research. 
 
Another idea is to have each student read a different article and then meet in small groups to share their article.

One way to approach distributing the articles, assign five students 1 article, another five the 2nd article, repeating this for all five articles.  Then students meet in groups of five, each having read a different article.  In that small group, each can summarize and share 2-3 facts.​
 
Here are six articles/sites about Nuclear Fusion Reactors that may be useful:
 
This article is very current and describes a new design approach meant to contain the very hot plasma:

http://news.sciencemag.org/physics/2015/10/feature-bizarre-reactor-might-save-nuclear-fusion
 
Here’s an article from MIT with the title:
“A small, modular, efficient fusion plant -- New design could finally help to bring the long-sought power source closer to reality. “
http://news.mit.edu/2015/small-modular-efficient-fusion-plant-0810
 
For a bit of history, the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in Princeton, NJ was used for research in the 1990s:

http://www.pppl.gov/Tokamak%20Fusion%20Test%20Reactor
The site contains links to several articles listed under “Research” .
 
Here is a webpage where the reader can scroll over a drawing of a reactor and view descriptions of the parts:

https://www.iter.org/mach
 
This site “Fusion for Energy” is from Europe and discusses various aspects of the efforts:

http://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/understandingfusion/technology.aspx
 
This 2013 headline reads, “Fusion reactor achieves tenfold increase in plasma confinement time -- Experimental design improved heat dissipation, reducing damage to reactor walls.”
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/11/fusion-reactor-achieves-tenfold-increase-in-plasma-confinement-time/
 
This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Remember, you can check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.

The lab book
Chemistry on a Budget is very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.
Order Soon! 

Also, 
Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 

Have a good weekend, and Happy Mole Day this Friday!
​
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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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