Far from talking about quite recurring topics lately such as quantum computing or artificial intelligence and all their capabilities, the truth is that there are also researchers who are working to develop new ways to get much more energy in order to, among other things, reduce pollution, end global warming and, above all, make our electricity bill much more economical and sustainable in the short term.
Personally, as far as I understand, we could make a simile between nuclear fusion and quantum computing since, for many physicists, managing to control and use in a responsible way all the technology that exists after nuclear fusion could reach provide us with an unparalleled source of energy, something that, as you surely know, seems to be increasingly necessary.
The fusion of Quark will be that turning point that could help us or end us
On this occasion I want to tell you about the work that has just been presented by two researchers, Jonathan L. Rosnerclose, belonging to the Physics department of the University of Chicago and Marek Karlinerclose, current professor of physics and exact sciences at the University of Tel Aviv, a work through which we are told about a completely new concept such as the Quarks fusion, a new type of nuclear fusion that can produce massive amounts of energy, specifically up to 10 times more than current systems.
Before going into more detail, tell you that at the moment we can only talk about a theoretical experiment, that is, they have not yet been able to implement their calculations in a real environment. Even so, the truth is that taking into account the data of the study, the fusion of elementary particles, such as the aforementioned quarks, may be the key to producing a much more surprising and greater amount of energy than we can imagine.
What are quarks and why are they used?
To understand in the simplest way possible what a quark is, just tell you that we are talking about a elemental particle that together with other subatomic particles form compounds. This idea introduces us to the concept that these particles form the most basic building blocks of matter.
As a detail, tell you that the famous protons and neutrons that make up matter are made up of quarks. The real difference between protons and electrons is that they have positive and negative charges even though quarks have a fractional electric charge.
With all this in mind, surely it is much easier for you to understand that a quark is the most elementary and simple particle that exists. At present, according to the designs of the scientific community, there are six different types of quarks that, in turn, can be classified according to their quantum number: up, down, top, bottom, strange and charm.
Many fear that this research is the basis for creating the quark bombs.
Returning to the paper published by the researchers, it is shown that two background quarks could merge in a powerful flash that would provide a huge amount of energy as a result. Translating all this into much more understandable data, the merger of two bottom quarks would produce the equivalent of 138 megaelectronvolts, an energy that would be about ten times more powerful than that produced by the individual reactions of nuclear fusion inside a hydrogen bomb.
To try to reassure the whole of society, scientists have quickly commented that this type of quark fusion could not be used in building a very powerful bomb, As you can read in its statement:
We suggest some experimental setups in which the highly exothermic nature of the merger of two heavy quark baryons could manifest. At present, however, the very short lives of the heavy bottom and charm quarks preclude any practical application of such reactions.
A nuclear fusion that occurs in a reactor or a hydrogen bomb is a chain reaction of a mass of particles, which generates a large amount of energy. But this is not possible by melting heavy quarks. Simply because the raw material cannot be accumulated in a fusion process.
Further information: tech times
But for what power 10 if power 1 doesn't work?