01 — COLLIDE
Heat it up
At 150 million °C, deuterium and tritium move fast enough to cross the electrostatic barrier between their positively charged nuclei.
Magnetic confinement // interactive model
Build a star
on Earth.
Explore the delicate balance behind nuclear fusion. Shape a plasma ring, tune its conditions, and see when hydrogen nuclei overcome their repulsion to release energy.
01 / Reactor console
TOKAMAK / PLASMA CROSS-SECTIONT+ 00:00:00
CONFINEMENT OPTIMAL
PLASMA MODE D–T BURN
FIELD LINES ACTIVE
PLASMA MODE D–T BURN
FIELD LINES ACTIVE
← TOROIDAL FIELDMAGNETIC AXISTOROIDAL FIELD →
02 / The physics, simplified
02 — CONFINE
Hold the plasma
A tokamak’s powerful magnetic field bends the paths of the superheated plasma, keeping it away from the reactor walls.
03 — RELEASE
Capture the energy
When nuclei fuse, a neutron carries energy into the surrounding blanket. In a power plant, that heat would make electricity.