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A comment on University of Texas-led team solves a big problem for fusion energy. Parent comment

Re:University of Texas-led team solves a big problem for fus... by aeve890 on Monday May 12, 2025 @11:44AM (#43964320)
>And stars solve the confinement problem with gravity and by being really, really large.

Kinda. The main catalyst of stellar fusion is quantum tunneling. Temperature and gravity together are not enough to overcome the Coulomb barrier.

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Re:University of Texas-led team solves a big problem for fus... by snowwrestler on Monday May 12, 2025 @01:46PM (#43965674)
Quantum tunneling does not work differently in the core of the Sun than it does on the surface of the Earth.

So what is the difference between those two places? Temperature and pressure. In the Sun those arise from gravity. On the Earth, we need to create them mechanically.

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