When we went to MIT we listened to an interesting lecture given by an MIT grad student. He talked about what nuclear fusion is, the process when two or more atomic nuclei combine or essentially “fuse” together to create a single larger nucleus, and how this reaction omits energy. He also talked about the differences between nuclear fusion and fission. Nuclear Fission is when the atom of a nucleus separates into smaller parts and creates free neutrons and photons. Nuclear fission produces energy for nuclear power, and essentially nuclear weapons.
I didn’t really know what to expect with the reactor, but I suppose it was a lot more than i imagined. He said that depending on the energy level of the community, somedays MIT wasn’t allowed to run it. But when they did it could only be run in two second time periods and only thirty times a day.