New data from particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), an "atom smasher" at the U.S. Department of ...

At the Wendelstein 7-X facility in Germany, scientists set a world record for sustaining a fusion-grade plasma at high ...

Germany's Wendelstein 7-X stellarator has set a new benchmark for fusion reactors, bringing commercial, near-limitless clean ...

Thermonuclear fusion creates a hot plasma — a state of matter formed of ions and electrons rather than the electrically neutral atoms that are found in gas — that can be confined, for example ...

Blasting the microwaves without alignment of Heliotron J's magnetic field created a discharge that ripped electrons from their atoms and produced an especially dense plasma. The Institute of ...

How is plasma used on Earth? Plasma happens when gas gets heated to a very high temperature and the atoms lose their electrons. Find out more about this state of matter. Major Funding by the Laura ...

In an unassuming industrial park 30 miles outside Boston, engineers are building a futuristic machine to replicate the energy that powers the stars. If all goes to plan, it could be the key to ...

Matter on Earth is typically found as a solid, liquid or gas, but the temperatures required for fusion are high enough that matter transforms into a fourth state called a plasma. Atoms in a plasma ...

To create conditions similar to those on stars, scientists use tokamaks, donut-shaped devices to contain the plasma, a superheated state of matter, where atoms are stripped off of their electrons ...

Every second or so, when a small amount of nitrogen gas is allowed to leak into the gap, a spark flashes, turning the nitrogen into a plasma by ionizing its atoms. The heavy current, which lasts ...

In both cases, the atoms involved are heated to super-high temperatures and confined in a small area, which forces them to fuse. Artist's impression of plasma inside a fusion reactor using ...