Author(s): Neal Singer
Format: Hardback
No. of Pages: 122
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Language: English
Date Published: 2011-07-16
Dimensions: 180.34 x 256.54 x 17.78mm
Publication City/Country: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Edition:
Illustrations: 56 colour photographs

With accessible writing, Neal Singer introduces young readers to what fusion is--and isn't. He explains the ways scientists have approached and developed fusion and discusses its advantages over other forms of energy production.

Mention nuclear fusion--the joining of two light atoms to form a heavier one--and most people think of bombs. But fusion has other uses, too. Inside an encapsulated space at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, scientists test the Z Machine, a pulsed power structure that uses electricity and magnetism to produce nuclear fusion. Although much of the research has focused on the development of nuclear weaponry, the Z Machine--along with the ITER machine in France and the National Ignition Facility in California, also discussed in suitable detail--may also help scientists find a way to harness fusion energy in order to provide clean, renewable energy to the world's growing population.