New World Record Set By The Fusion Reactor At MIT

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The nuclear fusion reactor at MIT was recently ordered to be closed due to the lack of the government funding. However, even as it was shut down, Alcator C-Mod made a new world record on its last day of operation.

 

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Image Source: MIT

 

The fusion reactor housed in the Plasma Science and Fusion Center broke the plasma pressure record. The last plasma pressure record was set by MIT nearly ten years ago.

 

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Image Source: MIT

 

Sun is powered by the fusion energy however the same reactions could not be replicated in the Earth. Plasma must attain a certain temperature, particle density, and period of confinement to generate fusion energy. Density and temperature produce pressure, thus fulfilling the two-third requirement for creation of the fusion energy.

 

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Image Source: MIT

 

In 2005, MIT achieved a pressure of 1.77 atm. The latest recorded value of the plasma pressure was 2.05 atm, implying that the previous value was improved by 15 percent.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0SzyJr73uE

 

The temperature inside the Alcator C-Mod reached a whopping 35 million degrees Celsius, twice as hot as the sun core. The plasma in the Alcator C-Mod generated 300 trillion fusion reactions per second. The reactor was surprisingly small for the scale of the experiment, only one-cubic-meter.
Farewell Alcator C-Mod!

1 Comment

  1. DE Braimah Reply

    35 million degrees celcius? Do we have that kind of thermometer ? or it was calculated from other dependent variables?

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