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2024-11-11

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Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea runs at 100 million degrees C for a record-breaking 48 seconds (www.livescience.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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48 seconds. I predict a glut of helium. balloons for everyone

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

How are they even containing that heat as this is obviously warm enough to melt everything in existence (as far as I know)?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

vacuum for isolation. Magnets, so the plasma stays in the middle and won’t touch the walls. Microwaves to heat it up from the outside.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

ELI5 would be huge magnets. If there is something that melts everything humanity ever created and knows of, keep it away from everything. But it is a real problem, instability in the plasma leads to the need for better materials.