- To master the fusion reaction, we must first master mayonnaise.
Nuclear fusion is something of a Holy Grail of energy production. Harnessing fusion reactions would allow us to produce immense amounts of emissions-free power that can’t blow up in a chain reaction and only produces a small amount of low-intensity radioactive waste.
However, it’s not easy to make nuclear fusion happen on Earth. It requires such ridiculous temperatures that the metal shells housing the fusion material melt and explode.
Recently, however, some physicists made a bizarre observation during a fusion experiment.
The unstable metal behaved exactly like mayonnaise.
So, the researchers did the next logical thing — they started subjecting mayonnaise to intense rotational energy to make notes on how the condiment behaves when it transitions from one state to another. They hope that the mayo can help them manage the melting metal during future fusion experiments.
If anybody ever does build a successful fusion reaction, it may all be thanks to the stuff you spread on your sandwiches. Kind of makes you think.
Hot, Hot, Hot!
But how exactly can mayonnaise help understand the physics of nuclear fusion? Well, first, we should explain how researchers are trying to make nuclear fusion happen.
Just as a general note, though, we’re not physicists, so this explanation is extremely simplified.
The nuclear fusion reaction is the opposite of nuclear fission, which is what current nuclear power plants depend on. Instead of splitting heavy atoms (like uranium) apart, fusion joins light atoms — such as hydrogen — to create heavier elements.
Fusion is what powers stars. The immense pressure and temperature inside stars overcome the natural repulsion between hydrogen atoms and force them together in blissful matrimony, like a cosmic shotgun wedding.
All of this presents a small problem for us when trying to make fusion happen on Earth. The atmospheric pressure on Earth is nothing compared to, for example, the Sun’s internal gravity.
Without the bonkers pressure, the only way to initiate the fusion reaction is to increase the temperatures. Consequently, fusion reactors (or tokamaks) can reach temperatures up to 270 million degrees Fahrenheit — 10 times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Pop Goes the Capsule
To reach that absolutely ridiculous temperature, scientists have had to get creative. The basic workflow of nuclear fusion experiments begins by trapping hydrogen gas in a tiny, pea-sized metal capsule by freezing it.
Researchers can then start firing lasers at the gas capsule to superheat the trapped gas to the temperatures required for fusion to take place. Honestly, physics is kind of cool sometimes.
However, the lasers also heat the metal shell. As you’re no doubt aware, metal gets brittle and eventually melts when it heats up.
Additionally, gas always wants to expand when it gets warmer. The combination of expanding hydrogen gas and a melting metal capsule almost always results in an explosion as the shell bursts.
It Bounces, It Flows
Recently, however, a research team led by Arindam Banerjee, a mechanical engineer at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, noticed something unusual when observing the melting fusion reaction capsules.
“Doesn’t that kind of look like mayonnaise?” one member of the team may have voiced an intrusive thought.
They were right, though. Banerjee’s team realized the molten metal behaved very much like mayo.
At a certain temperature, it was bouncy and elastic like mayonnaise straight out of the fridge. Make it a bit hotter and it starts flowing, like mayo that’s been sitting in a sunbeam for a while.
“If you put a stress on mayonnaise, it will start to deform, but if you remove the stress, it goes back to its original shape. So there’s an elastic phase followed by a stable plastic phase. The next phase is when it starts flowing, and that’s where the instability kicks in,” Banerjee explained to LiveScience.
Control Mayo to Control Fusion
Of course, being physicists working with volatile reactions, Banerjee’s team needed more precise data than “it looks like mayo.” They devised an experiment to carefully observe the different states of mayonnaise.
They placed the condiment in a contraption that basically spins it at a stupid high speed. The rotational energy then accelerates the emulsion of eggs and oil in mayo, causing it to start flowing.
While the mayonnaise spun in the machine, Banerjee and his team recorded its states in meticulous detail, accompanied by high-speed photography of mayo.
“We found the conditions under which the elastic recovery was possible, and how it could be maximized to delay or completely suppress the instability,” said Banerjee.
In other words, the researchers now understand better when the metal fusion capsules begin melting and when they reach the point of no recovery. Mayonnaise has given them the theoretical basis for how to prevent the capsule from shattering, potentially paving the way to successfully creating a fusion reaction.
Of course, they haven’t put their observations into practice yet. If it works, though, we may all have to thank mayo for abundant, clean energy in the future.