Chapter 1
Bottling up a star
Chapter 2
The global league of tokamaks
Chapter 3
Lasers and twists: Alternative paths
Chapter 4
Powering tomorrow's grid
YOUR GOAL
Master of Catching a star in a bottle
Ch 1 · Bottling up a star
007skaty Tokamak Fusion Reactors
Super-cold magnets hold a burning star in place, keeping it safely off the walls
007skaty The Sun's core fuses atoms at 15 million degrees Celsius using gravity, but Earth's reactors must heat plasma
007skaty A vibrant, hand-drawn anime miniature sun glows with swirling rings of hot plasma.
BETA
007skaty Trap swirling plasma with magnets to discover how scientists build an artificial sun.
Fun Fact
Sun vs Earth: The Sun fuses hydrogen at 15 million degrees, but Earth's reactors must reach 150 million degrees to overcome our lack of massive solar gravity.
Glossary
tokamak (noun)
A toroidal device that uses a magnetic field to confine extremely hot plasma for nuclear fusion. In December 2020, China first powered up its HL-2M reactor to test magnetic confinement of superheated plasma.
A toroidal device that uses a magnetic field to confine extremely hot plasma for nuclear fusion. In December 2020, China first powered up its HL-2M reactor to test magnetic confinement of superheated plasma.
Quiz
Which process combines light atoms to release energy, rather than splitting heavy ones?