Einstein’s E=mc squared is the equation on how mass can be converted to energy. That is the principle behind fusion energy.
First discovered in the 1950s, fusion energy is created by forcing atomic nuclei or mass together where the energy created is more than the mass itself. To make this easier to understand, one pound of fusion fuel will yield the energy equivalent of 10 million pounds of coal. Fusion power differs from nuclear power in that the energy is not created from a chain reaction and as such has no risk of meltdown, does not create radioactive material nor does it produce air pollution as is the case with the burning of fossil fuels. Current fusion efforts focus on heating and smashing the nuclei of one of the smallest elements in the periodic table – deuterium – which is one of the chemical elements of hydrogen.
So why not use fusion power now? At present, the cost associated with creating fusion power is drastically more than the amount of power created. Estimates suggest that it will take $35 billion spent over the next two decades to develop fusion power for commercial use. As such, fusion power is not expected to be widely available for another twenty-five to forty years. When this does occur, the combination of fusion power and solar power is expected to usher in a future where air pollution as we know it may cease to be while energy costs are a fraction of those that we pay today.
As this might sound too much like science fiction for you, let’s look over some actual science fiction ideas of yesteryear.
In 1865, Jules Verne wrote a story, “From the Earth to the Moon” about the first mission to the Moon. The space craft launched from a base in Florida. After walking on the moon, the astronauts returned to Earth by landing in the Pacific Ocean where the Navy picked them up. Verne also wrote of how the astronauts experienced weightlessness in space – a fact impossible to know back then.
In 1888, Edward Bellamy wrote a book entitled “Looking Backwards” about the use of credit cards to pay for things while shopping.
In 1904, Mark Twain wrote “From the ‘London Times’ of 1904” where he described the Internet. His telectroscope was a phone system that was used to stream live video and audio images. Along these lines, Arthur C. Clarke wrote of online newspapers in his 1968 work, “2001: A Space Odyssey” as well as communication satellites.
In Hugo Gernback’s 1911 book, “Ralph 123C 41+”, Gernback predicted such things as the television remote control, tape recorders, radar and solar power. His drawing of radar in use was nearly identical to Navy renderings on radar published in 1934.
H.G. Wells wrote of the nuclear bomb in 1914 in his book, “The World Set Free” while Aldous Huxley wrote of test tube babies, cloning and genetic engineering in “Brave New World” in 1932. Huxley also wrote about the United States becoming a consumerist society where many use a feel-good drug called Soma.
That bluetooth device that you use with your cell phone as well as the tablet computer were predicted in a television show, “Star Trek”.
Lastly, flying cars have been used in the books of countless authors over the years. The Terrafugia Transition Light Sport Aircraft is now commercially available for $279,000. This aircraft/car makes the switch from one transport type to the other with the flip of a switch. It burns 5 gallons per hour in the sky and an economical 35mpg on the road.
All of this is to make the point that what seems like science fiction today is the reality of tomorrow.
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