Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I was thinking if you could make two same charged ions fuse. Also I am not too good with fusion and I am aware that fusion is usually just fusing two nuclei together but I was not sure. I would also appreciate some fusion help
Thank you

Hi,

Welcome to science buddies!

Are you thinking about doing a fusion project to create energy?

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =&s=fusion

Ions with the same charge will repel each other and would not fuse. Ions will be attracted to other ions with the opposite charge and can form ionic salts or uncharged molecules, depending on the atoms involved.

What are you thinking about doing for your science project? Please let me know and perhaps I can suggest an experiment that would make a great science project.


Donna

I still don't know what I'm going to do But I already know that cations repel other cations and the same with anions (ions with pos or neg charge) but if you had a lot of hydrogen anions inside a small box whose "walls" are positively charged and in extreme temperatures would the Hydrogen anions eventually fuse?

Hi pabster,

Initiating fusion does require extreme conditions. The exact scenario you outline isn't necessarily plausible. Are you looking for a topic for a science fair project? If so, I suggest trying the Topic Selection Wizard to find some projects that interest you:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... gister.php

Hi,

Terik has given you a great suggestion to check out the topic selection wizard on this website. And he is right, doing a nuclear fusion project would be very challenging to do on your own..

It seems like you are interested in chemistry, so perhaps a polymer chemistry project would be of interest to you. Here are two project ideas that might inspire you.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p012.shtml


https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p101.shtml

Or, perhaps you would be interested in investigating exothermic reactions:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p054.shtml


For a science project, you will need to design a controlled experiment and measure your results, so you just need to identify a chemical reaction that you can investigate on your own. If you become a nuclear physicist in the future, you can work on nuclear fusion experiments


I hope this helps. Please let us know what you decide to do or if you have any other questions.


Donna

Thank you!