Nuclear fusion technology may achieve a breakthrough thanks to something unexpected: mayonnaise.
According to Livescience, the physical mechanism of mayonnaise could help physicists understand how to capture the extremely hot plasma necessary for nuclear fusion reactions.
In a recent study published in May in the journal Physical Review E, scientists put this sauce into a high-speed mixer and spun it to observe the conditions that make it flow like a liquid.
“We used mayonnaise because it behaves similarly to a solid, but when subjected to a pressure gradient, it starts to flow (like a liquid),” said Arindam Banerjee, the lead author of the study and a mechanical engineer at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
This process could help clarify the physical mechanisms that occur at extremely high temperatures and pressures inside nuclear fusion reactors without having to recreate those harsh conditions.
Nuclear fusion energy technology is about to breakthrough thanks to mayonnaise. (Illustrative image)
Nuclear fusion generates helium from hydrogen at the core of stars. Theoretically, it could be an almost limitless source of clean energy on Earth—if the reaction can produce more energy than is required to sustain it.
This is a daunting task, as stellar fusion reactions occur at 15 million degrees Celsius, according to NASA. Moreover, the immense gravitational force of a star pulls hydrogen atoms together, overcoming their natural repulsion, creating enormous pressure. However, on Earth, we cannot achieve such pressure conditions, which is why human-made fusion reactors must operate at temperatures ten times hotter than the Sun.
To achieve such extreme temperatures, scientists employ various methods, including a technique known as inertial confinement fusion.
In this process, physicists freeze gas pellets the size of a pea—typically a mixture of heavy isotopes or hydrogen isotopes—and place them inside metal capsules. They then fire lasers at the capsules, heating the gas to 222 million degrees Celsius in an instant—ideally turning it into plasma to facilitate the fusion reaction.
Unfortunately, hydrogen gas tends to expand, causing the molten metal to melt and explode before the hydrogen has time to fuse. This explosion occurs when the metal capsule enters an unstable phase and begins to melt.
Banerjee’s team discovered that molten metal at high temperatures behaves similarly to mayonnaise at room temperature. It can exhibit elastic properties, meaning it will return to its original shape when pressure is removed. Conversely, it can also display plasticity, which means it will deform under pressure and not return to its original shape. Furthermore, molten metal can flow like a liquid. These behaviors depend on specific conditions and how the molten metal is manipulated.
“If you apply pressure to mayonnaise, it will start to deform, but if you remove the pressure, it will return to its original shape,” Banerjee explained. “So, there is an elastic phase followed by a stable plastic phase. The next phase is when it starts to flow, and that’s when instability begins.” The scientists observed the properties of mayonnaise at each phase while spinning in the high-speed mixer and recorded their findings. From these insights, they aim to address the issue of exploding metal pellets in fusion reactions, making the process more efficient.
