North Korea Claims to Have Nuclear Fusion

[ta152h]

[citation][nom]otacon72[/nom]Please explain how surrounding a nuclear device with paraffin and detonating it produces fusion? In it's most simplist of forms, fusion is the combining of 2 atoms of something to make a heavier substance. The forcing of the atoms together produces a vast amount of energy. The "holy grail" is actually cold fusion. My father unfortunately is a nuclear physicist.... we have the most boring thanksgivings.[/citation]
It's kind of amazing that you don't know much about fusion if this is true. My guess is, it's not.

Fusion is normally four atoms, hydrogen, fusing into a helium. Not two. Since one Helium is slightly less mass than four hydrogen, there mass is converted to energy.

Fusion does not always create energy, by the way. There are some cases where atoms fused together possess less mass than the atom they create, and it actually consumes energy. This happens in dying stars, typically.

 

[HDmac]

Ya, I have no doubt that they did this, however I am 99.99% sure the reaction did not produce more power than it consumed. So no scientific breakthroughs as far as I am concerned. Wouldn't it be funny though if NK produced the fist working reactor? lol! no doubt the U.S would go and ninja it in like 48 hours.

 

[micky_lund]

[citation][nom]tpho2500[/nom]Yeah and I'm Tiger Woods.[/citation]
really? i couldn't tell from ur name
/sarcasm

 

[coolgod]

I'd lol if this was actually not some random BS..

 

[brooklynka]

it took the u.s. about 10 yrs from mahattan project to commercial use of nuclear power in 40s & 50s. let's see how NK doing, from "news' to "utilization" -_-;

 

[xtort107]

I feel like this story reeks of the Twilight Zone; your in a place where stories of a fourth world country creating scientific feats that billions have been spent on in other countries suddenly propels them into energy domination over the entire world,,,,,,,,,do not adjust your internet its for real. you've just entered the twilight zone.

 

[zodiacfml]

they could have this running.....using electricity from the grid.
i think, it was more ten years ago i have read that the only problem with it is using more electricity (to create immense magnetic field) than it produces from boiling water.

 

[blazeorangeman]

what is this "North Korea"? I know it must be Activision's new name for Infinity Ward.

 

[arfrxz]

North Korea steal some of AMD's fusion technology.lol

 

[pythy]

Either they've made a typo or they had fusion but couldn't achieve the two magic words: Self Sustaining

 

[zachary k]

there is not telling what you can do when you put all money into weapons and anything nuclear and deprive your citizens of basic things such as food, and clean water. its ok though, they don't mind, they are brainwashed!

 

[tiotaitch]

...necessity is the mother of invention...

 

[STravis]

North Korea just bought themselves a Fermi card and it was running so hot that they called it an artificial sun....things went downhill from there.

 

[alexmihai]

guess they heard fermi's shipping out and with all the eletricity problems they have the fermi's would bring the country down .. so you see they had no choice but to build a fusion reactor

 

[cj_online]

Why's this on Tom's site?

 

[anamaniac]

I'm skeptical as hell, but damn, North Korea, you have my hopes up.

We can hope it's true. The hippies already ruined nuclear fission for us, so fusion may be our last hope, short of building 100,000 square miles of solar farms...

 

[jenesuispasbavard]

Europe is a country now?

"... that no other country in the world--including China, Europe, and the United States--..."

 

[curiousgeorgieo]

OMG DOCTOR OCTOPUS lives in North Korea!!!!

 

[swamprat]

You have to wonder if some con-man scientist is about to get hanged - telling the authorities it works is fine until the authorities tell people who can tell the difference.

Isn't there also likely to be a problem with getting the fuel for fusion (in most current experimental reactors) into a suitable form? I remember reading something about that.

Good on them if it is true, it just seems a touch unlikely.

 

[Zingam]

Hahaha! If that's true it will be the biggest block-buster in the century!



I'm for the Koreans - Go Korea go! North Korea!

That would be the ultimate comedy: North Korea saves the world - invents cheap energy, protects the environment and the big oil companies go bust. The World is saved - Kim Jong-Ill - superhero! Obama crawls to Pyongyang to ask for the technology.

Muslim sheiks loose their oil money and cannot support Al Qaeda... etc.