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RITZ-CARLTON LUMINARA: DAY 13--The History of Fusion

  Our ship docked in Halong Bay, and I've had a lot of recent coverage because of our  Diamond Princess cruise through this area , so I will today focus on Fusion, the greatest hope for sustainable energy into the long-term future,  Today, only a history. There are two kinds of nuclear reactions. Fission:  splitting a heavy nuclei, like Uranium.  An Atomic Bomb gets energy from fission. Fusion:  joining light nuclei, like, like isotopes of Hydrogen, Deuterium and Tritium.  A Hydrogen Bomb uses fusion. Some  fusion history . In 1920, British physicist Francis Aston discovered that the mass of four hydrogen atoms is greater than the mass of one helium atom, which implied that energy can be released by combing hydrogen atoms to form helium. This concept provided the first hints of how stars produced energy. Henry Russell observed that a star's heat came from a hot core rather than the entire star. Mark Oliphant, working with Ernest Rutherford and oth...

RITZ-CARLTON LUMINARA: Day 12--History of Hydrogen

I regularly review the state of the Hydrogen Society.  Today, I will focus on the history. I've long been intrigued by hydrogen. 70-75% of the mass in the Universe is hydrogen. 90% of atoms are hydrogen. When combusted in air, the result is water. Isotopes tritium and deuterium are the keys to fusion. Why is hydrogen so abundant? The Big Bang produced mostly hydrogen and helium. Colorless and odorless. Hydrogen's simplicity makes it the primary fuel for the formation of stars. Hydrogen consists of one proton and one electron, making it the lightest and simplest atom. Makes up 63% of all atoms in the human body. Hydrogen's story. In 1526, Paraclesus first observed hydrogen gas. Theodore de Mayerne found the gas combustible in 1650. In 1671, Robert Boyle first artificially produced hydrogen. Henry Cavendish in 1766 formally identified it as a distinct element. Antoine Lavoisier coined the name hydrogen from the Greek words hydro (water) and genes (creator). In 1783, Jacques C...