In what some would say is yet another bid to rule the world, researchers and scientists have managed to achieve one of the most awe inspiring creations the world has ever seen by building an “artificial sun.”
The new world record shattered any previous ones after this “sun” was tested and managed to run at a temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for more than 100 seconds.
The experiment, which was carried out at the end of May, was done at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China was a part of the country’s efforts to cultivate new clean energy sources via the advancement in what they consider next-generation nuclear fusion reactor technology.
This technology is also called the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) or the “Chinese artificial sun,” which was able to bring about plasma temperatures of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds before the team was able to reach an even higher temperature of 160 million degrees Celsius for at least 20 seconds more.
According to EAST, their goal was to create Sun-like energy using deuterium. This is a hydrogen isotope that is easily found in the ocean, and moreover, it can give a continuous flow of clean energy as well. The group also estimates that ‘one liter of seawater contains enough deuterium to produce energy equivalent to 300 liters of gasoline.’
According to China, the hope is to replace harmful fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas with this new fusion energy so that it can ‘achieve carbon neutrality and a more ecological society.’
As shared by the People’s Daily, ASIPP Director Song Yuntao shared, “It’s a huge achievement in China’s physics and engineering fields. The experiment’s success lays the foundation for China to build its own nuclear fusion energy station.”
The EAST artificial sun project is also a part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor which is a joint effort between a number of global scientists from all around the world, totaling 35 countries in fact, including those from China, India, Japan, South Korea, some form the European Union, Russia and the United States.
What these experts are gunning for is that should the development proceeds continue to progress at the current pace it’s on now, they believe that the world could see a successful nuclear fusion within three decades at least.
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