Back to topics

What stands between a fusion reaction and electricity at a socket?

A fusion experiment can release more energy than the laser delivers to its target without powering a single home. The answer changes when the energy account includes the equipment around the reaction and the job of producing electricity.

5–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • Where is the boundary around a reported energy gain?
  • What would have to work repeatedly in a power station?

Start reading

Ready to try your ideas aloud?

Your topic carries over. Record up to 2½ minutes, depending on your plan.

How can a heat pump deliver more heat than its electricity input?

Energy4–5 minA heating device seems to promise something impossible when its heat output exceeds the electricity it uses. A heat pump's energy account includes another input: heat moved from its surroundings.

Energy

A solar cell's route from light to electricity

Shining sunlight onto a piece of silicon is only the first step in making solar power. When incoming photons knock electrons loose inside the semiconductor, an internal electric field built into the solar cell's layers must separate those charges and guide them into an external circuit before they simply recombine.

4–5 min

A solar cell's route from light to electricity

Energy4–5 minShining sunlight onto a piece of silicon is only the first step in making solar power. When incoming photons knock electrons loose inside the semiconductor, an internal electric field built into the solar cell's layers must separate those charges and guide them into an external circuit before they simply recombine.

How does a wind turbine turn moving air into electricity?

Energy3–5 minA turbine's blades are only the visible beginning of the journey from wind to electricity. Their rotation drives a generator, though the machinery connecting those parts differs between turbine designs.

What stands between a fusion reaction and electricity at a socket? | Speech Topic | speaking.app