• Question: what atomic number do elements in tokomaks fuse up to?

    Asked by 238eneq36 to Leah on 6 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Leah Morgan

      Leah Morgan answered on 6 Mar 2019:

      Hi!
      So we use isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (hydrogen-2) & tritium (hydrogen-3).
      Both of these have an atomic number of 1, just like regular hydrogen, the only difference is deuterium has an extra neutron and tritium has an extra 2 neutrons – so they have different atomic masses.
      We fuse them to make helium, which has an atomic number of 2 (and an atomic mass of 4). Helium is the heaviest thing we make (on purpose!).

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