Nuclear Fusion
30 Oct, 2014
530 Physics
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars. In the 1920s physicists predicted that it might be possible to generate huge amounts of energy by fusing atomic nuclei together, a reaction requiring enormous temperatures and pressures. Today we know that this complex reaction is what keeps the Sun shining. Scientists have achieved fusion in the laboratory and in nuclear weapons; today it is seen as a likely future source of limitless and clean energy.
→ Listen on BBC Sounds website
Guests
-
Philippa Browning No other episodes
Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester -
Steve Cowley No other episodes
Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority - Justin Wark
3 episodes
Professor of Physics and fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford
Reading list
-
Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion
Jean Louis Bobin (World Scientific, 2014) Google Books → -
An Indispensable Truth: How Fusion Power Can Save The Planet
Francis F. Chen (Springer, 2011) Google Books → -
Nuclear Power: A Very Short Introduction
Maxwell Irvine (Oxford University Press, 2011) Google Books → -
Stars: A Very Short Introduction
Andrew King (Oxford University Press, 2012) Google Books → -
Fusion: The Energy of the Universe
Garry McCracken and Peter Stott (Academic Press, 2005) Google Books →
Related episodes
-
The Proton
26 Apr, 2018 530 Physics -
Nuclear Physics
10 Jan, 2002 530 Physics -
The Sun
1 Jan, 2015 520 Astronomy -
The Death of Stars
9 Jun, 2022 520 Astronomy -
Plasma
13 Oct, 2016 530 Physics -
Radiation
12 Nov, 2009 530 Physics -
The Neutron
14 Apr, 2016 530 Physics -
Cosmic Rays
16 May, 2013 530 Physics -
The Life of Stars
27 Mar, 2003 520 Astronomy -
Photosynthesis
14 May, 2020 570 Biology
Programme ID: b04mgtdq
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mgtdq
Auto-category: 530.4 (Nuclear physics)
Hello (First sentence from this episode)
Hello, we'll be talking about nuclear fusion.