Sadly, at this point in time, energy from large-scale nuclear fusion is beyond our reach. In part, this is because humankind has a poor understanding of how protons join to become the various elements. It is a process we have not observed, only theorized about. (Small-scale fusion involving hydrogen gas, such as 'Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion' or 'Cold Fusion' shall not be discussed in this article.)

The current, somewhat outdated model, describes fusion as taking place at the center of of a star. At a certain point in time, shortly after the star has exhausted its thermal energies, it collapses in on itself and explodes. During this explosion the star scatters a variety of elements outward into the surrounding universe. Well, not really.

Stars implode, meaning that they collapse in on themselves. The implosion is violent enough for gases and particulate matter surrounding the star to be hurled outward, but the core of the star itself simply becomes denser. This updated information seems to have been ignored for the last decade by the physics and academic communities, as they are still teaching elements are released from exploding stars.

A more plausible theory allows for stars to evolve into black holes, which, in turn, gradually evolve into supermassive black holes, and then eventually into quasars. It should be noted quasars are the only observable source of elements heavier than helium. Observations of quasars have found gases made up of heavy elements being ejected from their magnetic poles. These gases are ejected at roughly forty percent of the speed of light.

The model of natural fusion just presented uses the attraction of gravity as the principle source of energy during the process. Lasers and magnetic containment fields are not involved in the 'natural' process of fusion. Intense gravity, and the resulting pressures, must be included if heavy element fusion is to ever be used as a source of energy.

Learn more about this author, Keith Foote.
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