Why is it so hard to create atoms from other atoms?
So helium is a limited resource. Okay gotcha. So why not take two hydrogen atoms. Take their protons and neutrons. And just fucking start squeezing them together until you get helium?
And I don't mean in the same way you get H2. Those are still separate from each other.
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Because you need the concentrated gravity of the sun to do this. Otherwise the electromagnetic force between the positively charged protons will keep them from sticking together.
Good news: This actually "creates" energy because helium is slightly lighter than two hydrogens. Look at the sun, that's how it sends us all the nice sunshine.
Bad news: You need more energy to actually push them together.
But we're trying to get there. That's what all the fusion reactors are supposed to do. We'll probably get it to work in about 50 years.
Just a tiny bit of context: we are getting fusion reactors to work in fifty years since 1950.
Powered flight was fifty years away from about the ninth century onward. Until 1903. After that it was trivial.
sixty years after that we had escaped the atmosphere itself and the Moon was within reach
Because of funding cuts, so yeah bring the cash back and it will probably be even before 50 years.
Is the LHC trying to do this? I know it smashes atoms together at high speeds, is this us trying to "squeeze" the atoms together like the sun does? Or is the LHC is completely unrelated to OP's question?
Not really, but another massive international project, ITER, is trying to do this. Its timeline is measured in decades if not the better part of a century.
I'm kinda pulling this out of my ass so I'd appreciate if someone can deny/confirm this.
I believe the LHC smashes particles to destroy them, to detect particles smaller than neutrons/protons/electrons, such as quarks.