Question by Necsis: Which releases more energy nuclear fusion or fission?
Does one release more then the other, or do they release the same amount?
Also I heard some where we are currently able to harness a small percentage of the energy produced from fission. Can anyone tell me if this is true, and if so that percentage.
Best answer:
Answer by Johnny F
The actual amount depends on what is being “fissed” or “fused.” I believe it is dependent on the element in question.
We actually harness energy from fission all the time. All nuclear power plants use fission for their energy production. When atoms are split the missing mass shows up as energy. This process is a net gain of energy because you get a lot more energy out of the split atoms than it takes to split the atom in the first place.
Currently, we don’t get the same from the fusion process (at least here on Earth). Due to a change in mass for some fused atoms, energy can also show up. Unfortunately, right now it takes more energy for us to fuse atoms together than we get out of it, so it’s not reasonable to construct fusion power plants yet.
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