With accessible writing, Neal Singer introduces young readers to what fusion is—and isn't. He explains the ways scientists have approached and developed fusion and discusses its advantages over other forms of energy production.
Mention nuclear fusion—the joining of two light atoms to form a heavier one—and most people think of bombs. But fusion has other uses, too. Inside an encapsulated space at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, scientists test the Z Machine, a pulsed power structure that uses electricity and magnetism to produce nuclear fusion. Although much of the research has focused on the development of nuclear weaponry, the Z Machine—along with the ITER machine in France and the National Ignition Facility in California, also discussed in suitable detail—may also help scientists find a way to harness fusion energy in order to provide clean, renewable energy to the world's growing population.