WE DID NUCLEAR FUSION

We did nuclear fusion. In Simone’s workshop.
Thanks to Uber Reserve for sponsoring a portion of this video! Get your ride right with Uber Reserve: ocie.app.link/t61anBZB09
Disclaimer: This build was supervised by experts at Helion. Do not try this at home.
I still can’t believe this video really happened. Back in May, I interviewed Helion CEO David Kirtley. I was trying to understand nuclear fusion: Is nuclear fusion possible now? How does fusion actually work? And most importantly, is nuclear fusion the future? Then, at the end of the interview, I asked David about headlines I’d seen about people building nuclear fusion devices in their backyards - what were they doing? “Oh,” David replied, “you can build one.”
What followed is the biggest adventure yet on Huge If True. Together with the team at Helion and my friend fellow KZbinr Simone Giertz, we BUILT A NUCLEAR FUSION DEVICE to show how nuclear fusion works, what the big remaining challenges are, and how it might help us all in the future.
Then, the last step was to try to turn it on…
WATCH "FUSION, EXPLAINED: PART 1" HERE: • Nuclear fusion, explai...
HUGE (no asterisk) thank you to David, Jessie, Ron, Joben, and the entire team at Helion for helping make our nuclear fusion dreams possible. It's truly a life moment I'll never forget and I'm so grateful.
Watch Simone’s channel here: / @simonegiertz
To support Huge If True, please consider subscribing: kzbin.info?sub...
Chapters:
00:00 We’re trying to do nuclear fusion
01:01 Thank you Uber Reserve!
01:48 What is nuclear fusion?
02:48 How do you build a fusion device?
03:37 How is nuclear fusion possible?
04:36 What is the big challenge with fusion?
05:36 What does nuclear fusion look like?
06:12 We’re great at this
07:08 UH OH
08:02 Here comes the fusion fuel!
08:32 The “Do Not Die” section
09:07 DID WE DO IT??
12:38 Is fusion possible at scale?
13:32 THANK YOU HELION
Sources and further reading:
- Nuclear fusion, simply explained: • Nuclear fusion, explai...
- “How Helion’s approach to fusion works” • Helion's approach to f...
- "Fusion energy breakthrough by US scientists boosts clean power hopes" (most recent news) www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-6...
- The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet, by Arthur Turrell: www.amazon.com/Star-Builders-...
- The Future of Fusion Energy, by Jason Parisi and Justin Ball: www.amazon.com/Future-Fusion-...
- Atomic Awakening: A New Look At The History And Future Of Nuclear Power, by James Mahaffey: www.amazon.com/Atomic-Awakeni...
- Principles Of Fusion Energy: An Introduction To Fusion Energy For Students Of Science And Engineering (Illustrated Edition): www.amazon.com/Principles-Fus...
- “Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy,” BBC: • Major breakthrough on ...
- “Fusion Power Explained: Future or Failure,” Kurzgesagt: • Fusion Power Explained...
- “We Went Inside the Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor, The B1M: • We Went Inside the Lar...
Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! www.dropbox.com/request/Edocs...
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: / cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: / cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: / cleoabram
Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s KZbin Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?
Vox: www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/
Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16-35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro
Music: Musicbed
Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: kzbin.info?sub...
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Welcome to the joke down low:
What is a lightbulb’s favorite kind of news?
Current events.
Find a way to use the word “current” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one ;)

[@HelionEnergy]

Cleo, when you suggested building a fusor to help people better understand fusion, we were all in! Thanks for coming up with such an awesome idea. And Simone, thanks for letting us send parts of a fusion machine to your workshop (twice 😅). This was so fun to build and really helps explain some fusion fundamentals.

[@jullit31]

It would be really cool if you had some way to detect the He in this kind of demo.

[@nathanbanks2354]

I've now subscribed to Helion.

[@aaronkoch3273]

Helion, it was badass for you to support them for this video. It's super cool to learn about stuff like this and it would normally be way out of reach for us "normies."

[@ultimateswarm7868]

@@jullit31 Replace the roughing pump with a helium leak detector, standard piece of vacuum equipment, would do the trick here. Would be cool to hear the tone change on the console as the amount of helium increases. One problem with this is that the pressure in the vacuum volume might be to high to provide the sensitivity necessary to detect it as the helium generation is likely very low. I'd love to see a video trying regardless!

[@ultimateswarm7868]

Please replace the roughing pump with a helium leak detector! Would be so cool to detect the increased presence of helium!

[@LeRoiJojo]

I like how David's completely unfazed by it all, like an electrical engineer who just showed a kid how to power a lightbulb with lemons or something.

[@wilurbean]

It is about that trivial Building a Fusor is a recipe now a days especially if you can stuff new. You can buy a nearly turn key drop unit for 10-15k

[@jafinch78]

Has anyone actually performed spectroscopy with their fusor? Seems like can be done really easy DIY by yourself. No fair, super tease.

[@paulmobleyscience]

Fusion fuel is Tritium/Deuterium, not just Deuterium. Naturally occuring Tritium is extremely rare on Earth and only found in trace amounts in the atmosphere. That means the Tritium in the expirement and the others came from our fission reactors. PWRs release 10s of thousands of TBq per site per year of tritium into the environment on a daily basis. This tritium is taken up in plantlife where it forms Organically Bound Tritium that does not leave the human body in under 30 days and becomes bonded to our cells that causes DNA strand breaks, micronucleus formations, cell necrosis or apoptosis, chromosomal aberrations and various other phenomena thus negatively affecting human health. We should not use either fusion or fission. Do these girls know this? Helium 3 is on the shortage list...

[@jafinch78]

​@@paulmobleyscience Yeah, so many people see the hype and rhetoric and not the holistic system develop and validation life cycle. Definitely many many variables not well detailed to the masses that makes me super bipolar like regarding the issue. Seems the first step is to clean up fission operations by getting those deep underground and/or underwater I guess and modularized with deep underground processing facilities to recycle and process the used materials. Holistically, there are excuses after excuse for dumbing down the U.S. Jurisdictions to complete morons en mass with low IQ's and EQ's and standardized logic memories and memory associations demonstrated in test scores that inhibit the advancement of the advanced domesticated complex maintenance of systems for growing populations societies. In particular the development of existing systems to be greener I guess is the term or healthier with the goals of the healthiest systems. That's not going to happen when the role models are a bunch of suicidal deviants hell bent on being hooked on a feeling and high on believing whatever is trending mafia lies and deceit for mass murdering profiteering schemes that are counter public health and counter public safety. Imminent threats are wild on the loose more than required, blending into the valid masses more than most realize intentionally. Doesn't serve or support the situation or valid design of what better men (and a few woman) intended to implement for perpetuity and betterment of humanity and society peacefully. Pan Troglodyte weird and alarming in many, if not most situations.

[@paulmobleyscience]

@@jafinch78 I don't believe deep underground is the answer and heres why. Dry casks....will have to be repeatedly replaced as the concrete and metal breakdown long before the waste reaches its whole life decay because half life does not mean safer by any stretch of the imagination. One radionuclide that went through one of its half-life and didn't decay has the same exact characteristics as a brand new radionuclide of the same name that just popped into existence. Meaning one tritium radionuclide that went 12.33 years and didn't decay has the same exact energy and characteristics as a brand new tritium radionuclide. You can't tell them apart...so we can't just bury it and forget about it in any repository. Using oil and gas type bore holes down to bedrock won't work either as we see issues with Microannulus and concrete degradation in the abandoned boreholes we have now which will create a path down to the bedrock for water to flow creating something the world has never seen. We shouldn't be drilling into bedrock causing weakpoints in what is normally solid and is not the answer. WIPP had an explosion simply because they used the wrong kitty litter. They all know it really shouldn't be buried and is not a plausible option for the storage of nuclear waste as it was their first idea over 70 years ago but found out what it will do to an aquifer if radioactivity and radiation gets inside. The only real answer as crazy as it sounds is to safely send it off this planet. With returning rockets and capsules that will protect astronauts in the case of a rocket explosion, this idea becomes more a viable option everyday, no matter the cost. We need to stop producing this waste before we finally figure out a viable way to dispose of it. Repositories are not the answer, nor is reprocessing it with something that end in EX (there are many) when we used to use hexafluoride to break the covalent bonds that seperates the fissle material from the wasted fuel.

[@besmart]

This was so fun! And Simone is just the person to get this strapped onto a Delorean

[@flipclone]

she could strap it into her Truckla but I doubt it would fit in Cheese Louise

[@zapfanzapfan]

Fusion powered Truckla 🙂

[@noliver7913]

Ms. Fusion

[@terramater]

Just today, Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California celebrated a breakthrough in their fusion experiments. For the first time, they were able to generate more energy than they invested in the process. The researchers used 2.1 megajoules of energy, with the help of laser beams, to initiate the fusion of two hydrogen isotopes. The fusion reaction in the facility generated 2.5 megajoules of energy. This is an important step towards the commercial use of fusion technology and a potential alternative to fossil fuels.

[@jaschajade]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comment bump !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@afonso6372]

Uhhh that's hugeee*!!! *if true

[@slyhatjones]

Importantly, that's 2.1 megajoules stored in the lasers, but it takes huge amounts of energy to pump those lasers and they fire for a very brief amount of time and then shut down. The system as a whole still consumes far more energy than it outputs. That's not even accounting for the typical conversion of heat to electricity of maybe 50% efficiency. It's a significant step forward, but the journalism around fusion continues to gloss over the difference between net energy *of the reaction* vs. net energy *of the whole system*.

[@licencetoswill]

@@slyhatjones yes, but at least they've done the hard part. the rest is optimization in the support infrastructure, more efficient lasers etc.

[@pappaflammyboi5799]

No they didn't. They may have produced excess fusion energy from the laser input energy, but the system efficiency isn't even close.

[@nateeames6826]

Simone is such a natural fit for this channel. I hope we see her again!

[@jameshecht3471]

Get your hands outta your pants

[@mameemia]

the character arc from trying and actually doing it is giving me serotonin

[@Jetstream__]

Pun intended ;)

[@thethoughtemporium]

Great video, but ya'll didn't make any fusion. If you had you'd all be suffering acute rad poisoning being that close to an unshielded fusor. That big glass window would be spewing xrays. Fusion doesn't happen until at least 30Kv, and the amount of current required is directly proportional to the size of the chamber. That massive chamber would be quite difficult to get up to actual fusion range. You'd probably need 50kv and a fair bit of current and it would be wildly unstable, fusing sporadically while spewing x rays. There's a whole community who've been building fusors for years and the standards for claiming fusion are really well defined. It's a "pics or it didn't happen" kinda thing. Basically, you need to detect actual neutron output or you can't claim fusion. This means you either need a bubble detector, a neutron detecting tube, or to activate some other element with the neutrons and detect the gamma decay of the resulting unstable element. It's a lovely build and I commend you on getting as far as you did, but David should know better and it's really disingenuous to make the claim of fusion in this context. I've literally built the same device out of microwave parts and jam jars and while it glows nicely, there's 0 detectable fusion at the voltages demo units like this run at.

[@SolkanStudiosTV]

Yeah I wasn't sure if I missed something but this did not look like fusion. I got detectable fusion back in October at 28kV and roughly 15mA and neutrons were detected on a Bubbletech BP-PND bubble detector as well as a calibrated Ludlum Neutron ball detector. The X-ray measurements infront of the glass viewport were higher than the meter provided by the university's radiation could handle and we did everything remotely. Also, pretty much all fusors' grids glow white hot at fusion power levels and their nixie tube plasma didn't come close to heating it. I'm not even sure what voltage they went to. If they went to 10kV or so you could say that they did get "some" fusion, relying on the fastest Deuterons in the energy distributions, but not even close to being able to detect it. Would anything like this pass as "fusion" on the fusor forums? Absolutely not.... but good effort and perhaps it'll motivate someone to pursue this line of work down the line.

[@ChrisTaylor-NEP]

I think David has just totally taken advantage of Cleo. He knows she comes across as an incredibly credible person, so this is just an opportunity for him to attract investors who just don't have the scientific skills to realize how difficult proper desktop fusion would be to achieve. I hope Cleo sees your comment and, for the sake of her own reputation, puts out a disclaimer that she was misled.

[@ooooneeee]

Yeah this is a startup doing pr on the backs of Simone and Cleo. sussy af.

[@LoveLearnShareGrow]

According to Wikipedia's entry on "Fusor", "With hydrogen fuels, about 3 to 10 keV is needed to allow the reaction to take place." In this video they use deuterium which is a hydrogen isotope. They mention running at 6000 V. So I think you're conflating calculated fusion conditions with detectable fusion emissions.

[@marcus_w0]

@@LoveLearnShareGrow He's not conflating - he points to the physical fact, that if there would be any atomic fusion reaction inside this MASSIVE chamber, the outcome would be an outburst of energy. And because entropy happens and it doesn't want to stay in that high energy state at all, there would be high energy emission - in form of massive amounts of x-ray radiation. This was nothing but a plasma reaction. A deuterium lightbulb or a glorified plasmaglobe. The procedure is working and all the aperture is capable of achieving a fusion reaction - but the seen outcome is not a true fusion.

[@earnbrand8536]

When you asked how you'd know that fusion had occurred, I'm surprised that David didn't pull out a portable neutron detector.

[@dsvilko]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. They should have used a neutron detector as you can have a nicely glowing ionized gas without achieving fusion.

[@daBuzzY90]

@@dsvilko And a lot of very damaging radiation. There was no fusion. Unless poor cleo and simone (and david!) now have to worry about having a much higher risk of dying of cancer.

[@ericresh3268]

If fusion occurred they would all be dead from x ray exposure. They looked at a pretty plasma cloud and that was all.

[@sapnamohta5986]

@@daBuzzY90Hey! I have very limited knowledge on this topic so this is just a curious question. Couldn't the radiation be inside the chamber, not released outside into the workshop, meaning that they actually achieved fusion while containing the radiation and neutrons?

[@james112680]

I'm just saying this in a nice way and not to be an evil comment jerk. I don't think this type of reaction releases neutrons. They take deuterium which is one proton and one neutron and fuse it with another set of those. And the final thing produced has the same particles. Maybe when it decays or something it'll release. But I have no idea. I also don't pretend like I'm an expert at everything like every KZbin commenter. And they would be okay with em radiation as well I believe. It's not dense enough of a reaction to cause any harm. So that's my response to the year old comment. Peace!!!

[@answerinprogress]

This video is so good! I never expected fusion to be so easy to understand and engaging to watch!

[@stevensteven4863]

Happy to see you here ... I'm a big fan

[@hemantsarthak]

How? What did you understand tell me? Not impressed at all .... atleast tell us what each part is ... what its doing etc ... also show us how you extract electricity/heat/energy from it if possible ... it just looked like neon/plasma lights that's it ... man really wanted to see something in detail ... there only so many people who have this kind of knowledge & equipment budget .... this was annoying. Also you should have explained what the diff is bw this experiment and what helion is actually building ... instead of just scaling this up etc. man super annoying.

[@paulkocyla1343]

Because it´s not. They created a gas discharge lamp. The thing that glows inside the switch of your power distribution cord. It doesn´t make fusion, it just makes a corona discharge in a low pressure gas atmosphere. It´s a "neon" bulb, except they use deuterium and not neon.

[@Hailvian]

@@hemantsarthak it's almost like it said this was a part two in the introduction

[@hemantsarthak]

@@Hailvian part 1 has theory ... I understand the basic theory ... I want to know more about the physcial machines being used .... energy extraction processes etc ... in this they were doing the practical and stilll didnt tell the component names used etc. thats why I was annoyed.

[@Mikeztarp]

There's something poetic about doing a _collab_ about _fusion._

[@creepervideo1106]

Hahaha

[@maudado]

Beautiful colors! This would be a nice lamp for my living room!

[@TheSucram729]

That would be such a flex lol “Nice lamp. Where’d you get it?” “Oh from a fusion research facility. It’s performing nuclear fusion right now.”

[@gsant3204]

Probability it was nothing more than that, thy did not test to see if the reaction actually produced any Hellium, it looks like visual spectacle.

[@caffreyyy]

Absolutely!

[@BajkonurBobby]

@@gsant3204 5:36 12:20 Question, answer and confirmation. 🙂👍

[@Can_Head]

@@TheSucram729 "Hey nice lamp" "Yeah, it's powering my house right now"

[@danielwoods7325]

Whoever is organising PR for Helion is doing a fantastic job - this is FOURTH youtube video I’ve seen them on in the last month. Can’t wait for Polaris!

[@mynameisjeff.]

He's a con artist. It is not scientifically possible his system to ever produce more energy than it consumes. No fusion occurred here. He is a complete fraud.

[@vigreene9849]

I would absolutely ADORE seeing this as like a travelling museum exhibit/program, like. being able to have an event where you could go and see fusion in person would be so deeply inspiring for so many youths

[@TheOfficialOriginalChad]

A bit pricey. It would be a lot easier to just create the plasma in the reactor and tell kids it’s fusion (because it might as well be)

[@jafinch78]

With at least a webcam spectrometer. Like Theremino or Les' Lab DIY design please. I want to see that done when using. Maybe can from the TV screen? 🙂 HHHmmm... I just thought about that and am now wondering.

[@genesisPiano]

Great idea!

[@Duckman1616]

@@TheOfficialOriginalChad That's actually what they did here.

[@keshavjha8482]

Love the Atom song dance! Cleo has great company and it makes me happy to see people love their job and enjoy the moment 😊

[@juanca1991]

I couldn't help but cry from pure happiness when I saw Simone's glowing face mesmerized by fusion. Thank you for being so truly and deeply happy even when so many things had happen to you. You're pure light and make people like me appreciate life more and not take any great moment for granted.

[@user-br1ek8rf8o]

❤

[@ThatMakesSenseToMe]

Very few videos re-ignite my pure childlike wonder at science. This was such a gift. Thank you both for all your work. 💜

[@aaronhhill]

I just read yesterday that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have finally achieved a net energy gain from a fusion reaction.

[@tycox9364]

What does this mean exactly? Does this mean they could scale their current solution large enough to power a city? (Ignoring any additional breakthroughs)

[@aaronhhill]

@@tycox9364 That's the rumor.

[@osmia]

This reads as a perpetual motion machine to me. Almost made me check the current date to see if it was April 1

[@dkaloger5720]

Yup , true .They are due to make formal announcements December 13

[@jasonberry2026]

No, not yet. There is still the need to extract the energy and only after this step (including losses) has greater than nett zero does it mean time to scale up and industrialise. That's why @davidkirtley and the guys at Helion are so important as their design Co siders the direct electricity energy extraction in the fundamental design, ie Helium 3

[@ScottWaa]

The joy between you and Simone is absolutely contagious! So inspiring!

[@thesavage2054]

Not only was it great to see Fusion is Simone's workshop it was even better watching two great friends get so excited about it 😊

[@AstroKobi]

Such a great video!

[@swarajtilekar3836]

Wow ur here

[@carolineholden2215]

I can't tell you how cool it was to see two women absolutely STOKED to create fusion in a workshop. I don't think anything like this was ever even thought of as part of my education growing up in science and I wonder how many younger viewers are going to be incredibly inspired to jump into this due to videos in this series. Well done Cleo and Simone! :)

[@Tesseract9630]

So are you saying if men did it , it wouldn't be cooler and inspiring?

[@DForce26]

Look! it's an Andrew Tate fan in the comments... 🤣

[@carolineholden2215]

@@Tesseract9630 Not necessarily! However, only 4.4% of nuclear scientists are women it's pretty cool to see women exploring such a niche field of science featured so prominently, even if they are simply learning about the topic. I understand if the emotional argument of this may be a bit surprising or unfamiliar to you, but if you look at this statistically, it is pretty unusual for women to be featured in this space and I think it's cool to have them featured here. It's okay if we have different opinions, but here's mine. Yes, I think it is cooler to me to have women exploring nuclear tech because they are statistically over 90% less likely to do so and because I, as a woman growing up, was not encouraged to explore the sciences. Now, if you're a dude, maybe it's more cool for you to have a male scientist building nuclear fusor's but for me it's a combo of emotional significance AND statistical intrigue and I think that's pretty valid. What do you think?

[@Tesseract9630]

@@DForce26 why are you so upset in in giving equal treatment to men

[@DForce26]

@@Tesseract9630 Wait? I'm upset? 🤣

[@starjessicafang]

How aptly timed! Just read earlier today that Dept of Energy is planning to announce major breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy research and immediately thought of your (at the time unfinished) video on nuclear fusion. Scientists are able to produce net energy gain from a fusion reaction for the first time. Though it's probably still decade away from commercial use but I really do share your excitement about this!

[@mannyalejo772]

A neutron detector would have confirmed the fusion reaction.

[@PavloPravdiukov]

it would also confirm the disturbing truth about fusion being highly radioactive. If only there was an expert on fusion to explain those dangers...

[@26kuba05]

@@PavloPravdiukov The expert in the room knew them well that there was no fusion and was there for free PR and promotion.

[@okaraaze1087]

@@26kuba05 Genuine curiosity. Why do you say there was no fusion occuring? what does genuine fusion look like? Iv seen that farnsworth fusors (the one in the video) produce only minimal amount of fusion but fusion regardless. Is my information wrong? can you explain whats actually happening in the video?

[@26kuba05]

@@okaraaze1087 iirc what you see in the video is only plasma glowing and no fusion happening. With actual fusion you would get ionizing radiation and you aren't supposed to be close to that shit. Helion CEO wasn't bothered by radiation because there was none because there was no fusion.

[@okaraaze1087]

@@26kuba05 Ah youre right so basically its a glorified plasma globe haha! So then how would you get fusion? wouldnt a gieger counter prove the production ionizing radiation and thus prove fusion? Whats steps did they do wrong to not achieve fusion?

[@oddlang687]

Just saw a video from polymathy talking about how at LLNL they were able to produce a net energy gain from nuclear fusion for the first time and then that led me to this video! Super cool stuff! And yeah, I'm jealous that you were able to do nuclear fusion in Simone's workshop

[@erikakochig894]

AWESOME!! I was screaming with you in the same moments, I just love this video. You make me feel that soooo many things are possible. Keep the hard work, we are here to join you in your ride =)

[@Tayfaan]

Nice job! I have a question though, the viewports are a major source of xrays and in the system we're building for a high school project, we are required to use cameras in order to view the reaction. I was wondering why this was not a concern in this system? What was the used voltage? What was the pressure of the chamber when filled with deuterium? If you ever read this, thank you so much :)

[@natev7870]

There were probably no x-rays because there was no fusion. According to other sources I've heard the voltage used here is nowhere near high enough so it's most likely just a plasma bottle

[@lawabidingcitizen5153]

@@natev7870 That would mean that x-rays are the only thing to worry about, but at the voltage they used its so soft that little could penetrate the glass

[@lsdave]

This tech is soo important, and we need people like Cleo and Simone to bring awareness to fusion in such an accessible manner. Bravo you two!

[@ofthenearfuture]

This was wildly cool! Love your channel, but especially the collabs with Simone as well, hope to see more of them in the future!

[@JanStrojil]

Glad to see you both survived! ❤️

[@y_social_]

The story that has sent shivers down my spine since I was a kid are the ones where the world told them it was impossible, and they just up and did it anyways. Congrats Helion and team. May your efforts be fruitful.

[@ghislainedidntkillherself]

you deserve millions of subscribers. the amount of effort you put into all of your videos is so vastly huge, that it truly blows my mind that such mind numbing content on youtube can reach so much more engagement. you deserve the world and i hope you become one of the biggest journalists/science educators ever. you are amazing.

[@wspepsilon]

So... I've seen a few interviews now with Dave and helion but this, this was my favorite! The fact that he was chill enough to take time out of his schedule to help build this backyard reactor for all of us to geek out over! That's the kind of CEO I want to work with right there...

[@SignalDitch]

This was an excellent video! 1) Damn, think you got a big enough turbo? 2) Congrats on really underplaying how scary it was to lose power while pumped down. I don't know what your vacuum circuit looked like, but turbos really don't like to leak up fast. 3) The shots of Simone and Cleo with their faces against the viewport, aside from looking like kids at christmas, was giving me real Shoe Fluoroscope vibes. I know you didn't run it long, but how conscious were you of the x-ray and neutron radiation you were producing? Did you manage it mostly by managing the energy of the reactor or did you just limit your exposure? Did you wave a gamma scout around while it was fusing, just for fun? Again, thanks for the awesome demo! I've seen a lot of Farnsworth fusors on YT but the presentation here is top-notch!

[@trollasaurus269]

They weren’t worried because there was no fusion. He has access to every type of neutron detector available. He knew well there was no risk of X-rays from ionizing gas

[@gorilaz0n]

Simone and you definitely have great chemistry! You two should partner up for more videos!

[@ralfkruse7565]

Maybe you should try cold fusion. FLEISCHMANN and PONSE did it some 30years ago at the MIT. They got 4times more energy out than they put in. Italian engineer ROSSI could get 15 times bigger output. (only heat energy,) 😎🇫🇷

[@ANAKCreates]

This was the best collab ever, Simone fits so well! You guys are so great together!!! Please more!! ALso, this video was just awesome in general, but next level with the 2 of you together!!

[@official_alphabet_inc]

Maaaan.. Seeing this happening, and _especially_ the excitement of you two, really brightened up my day. I wish more people would be excited about stuff like this. Thanks, Cleo (and everyone else who helped out)!

[@connorogilvie3642]

I love how this came out literally a day before the most significant breakthrough in fusion technology history

[@BiologicalComputer]

It didnt

[@nufh]

It's hard to imagine that I'm watching 2 young girls doing Nuclear Fusion in their backyard on a social media streaming platform. We're progressed so fast, if I told this to anyone from 2000, they wouldn't believe me.

[@altxyz]

It looks impressive, but. All they did, just connecting a few vacuum components together with a detailed help from someone else. It is like assembling an IKEA furniture. And then some girlish screaming for more views. There were not a single problem they had to solve. Nothing. There is no added value in this video.

[@haomaamoah6014]

Wait till the stories your grandkids will tell you when you meet in the afterlife 😇

[@asicdathens]

There were many backyard fusors in the early 2000's . I read an article about it

[@Sven_Dongle]

Sure, with a turnkey kit from a fusion company that probably cost about half a mil to put together.

[@skop6321]

@@Sven_Dongle not even close but ok

[@joshn1678]

Cleo, you are so amazing at this and you make me want to get involved in this stuff, which is incredible for all the people who follow your channel. Keep it up, you're doing great things.

[@baukejoosten]

this Vid, to me was seeing two girls build their sceincefair project. But then 1 google times more awesome! Thank you to everyone who made this vid possible. It was SOO cool to see this happen, and watch everyone's reactions when it did.

[@matgggg55]

Nice job! I just want to point out to some people commenting a demo fusion reactor can be achieved even easier than this. This set up you guys build is fairly robust! That turbo pump is huge and so is the chamber. It’s fitting for your propose to make the set up big so it’s easy to video but you can achieve the same thing using much cheaper and smaller equipment. I built mine for about $3,000 using a much smaller chamber, a diffusion pump instead of turbo pump and a cell that turns heavy water into deuterium gas. A basic fusion reaction is amazingly easy to achieve at home. The hard part is actually acquiring the knowledge to know how to do so. Useful information on building high vacuum systems is sadly hard to find.

[@MarianKeller]

Yea, the turbo pump must have been one they had lying around, totally oversized for the way it's connected to the chamber.

[@matgggg55]

@@MarianKeller yes especially how they have it connected, the literal definition of a bottle neck lol

[@BirthQuakeRecords]

9:56 I love how Simone is having a full blown Color Out of Space moment here

[@BirthQuakeRecords]

(I’ve actually not seen this movie, just the trailer - I hope this reference makes sense, and isn’t somehow a messed up thing to say)

[@siddhantkumar6340]

Your video timing is brilliant, I saw the last video and understood fusion and by the release of this video they have already found a way to produce energy efficiently from it

[@MeriaDuck]

KZbin mustv'e suggested this to me for various reasons not in the least that this was in Simone Giertz's shop! And of course you get my subscription, that was cool!

[@johnchessant3012]

Wow, incredible timing of this video given that the first net-gain nuclear fusion reaction was just achieved at Livermore labs (results are going to be announced tomorrow)

[@AlwinMao]

The farnsworth fusor, developed in the 60s, relies on the fact that 4000 Volts is a voltage commonly found in neon signs and CRT televisions but equates to a temperature of 45 million Kelvin, 3x that of the center of the Sun.

[@christhornham]

Outstanding video. You're editing and storyline was amazing. Keep up the good work. 🎉

[@AsymmetricThrust]

How is this the first time I came across your channel!? Can’t wait to check out the rest of your content.

[@aldenn5339]

Big, if true. Did you really fuse deuterium? D + D → 3He + n You'd feel the effects of neutron radiation by now.

[@aerostorm_]

To answer your 7 month old comment, they never achieved fusion here. Its just a glorified D burner creating mundane plasma. This company is just attempting to attract funding through social platforms drawing interest.

[@lukaswerner4390]

The timing OMG especially with today's announcement from the Department of Energy

[@ihavenousernameidea5739]

I know lol

[@alkalinedale]

Your faces of excitement are just so great! Keep up the great work!

[@pocketsk3824]

This was amazing to watch. I found this video because I study physics and I also follow Simone on insta. I loved watching y'all get excited about the project and the questions you asked were great ones. Very, very cool content. The internet needs more of this.

[@arlo841]

These videos are so high quality and educational, you deserve to be one of the biggest creators on KZbin.

[@keith7675]

The current work being done at Helion is very exciting. I think they have some of the best potential to solve commercial fusion energy and stop carbon emissions. Thank you for sharing this video and for presenting it in understandable and even entertaining way. If only I lived in Washington. I would be bugging them constantly to hire me on.

[@roshanjohn4308]

The timing of this video is so spot on. Currently ;) the total current generated was less than the total current needed to generate but today it seems they achieved scientific energy breakdown! That is insane! I was smiling like a kid seeing that fusion like how you two were enjoying it. Really loved it! What I would have done to be part of something like this.. It was sooo beautiful

[@MissionMan]

I watched this right after reading about an article about The National Ignition Facility successfully creating fusion that created more energy than it took to make! That's incredible! It's also great to combine that knowledge with this more hands-on (hands off?) fusion at a smaller scale to wrap my head around it more.

[@PocketProjects]

This was posted a day before it became global news?? it's fair to say you guys just predicted the future! Hmmm I have a hunch Cleo and Simone you've just travelled back in your timemachine that you completed next year😆

[@teresashinkansen9402]

Where are the neutrons? this is just an overly expensive and complicated discharge light, this is not a reactor until there is proof of a neutron flux.

[@MattMajcan]

okay i keep hearing all this stuff about fusion but ive never actually just seen it so clearly, this is amazingly beautiful

[@reggieallen2467]

Congratulations Cleo and Simone! Your pure joy at this accomplishment was the best part of watching this series. Also, it would be a travesty if you don't commemorate this with What The Fusion merch. I would be down for a sweatshirt!

[@luishsteuer1660]

You made a plasma chamber. Did you actually sustain fusion reactions? They are not the same.

[@HAL9000.]

And the "Perfectly Timed Video of the Year" award goes to. . . . CLEO!

[@divarachelenvy]

I love it when you two work together, keep up the great work..

[@AndrewPonti]

I felt like I was watching the warp core from Star Trek! That was unreal - like CGI but actually happened! I hope these 2 do more together!

[@luis_discovery]

And two days later someone announces they’ve achieved fusion with positive energy output 😄 Like David was saying, lets hope we’re able to upscale the process for real energy production in the next decade!

[@Sven_Dongle]

Except no, they didnt. Actual power input to the 192 LASERs was around ~200 MJ, power on target was ~2 MJ after losses, extracted energy was ~3MJ final, so it adds up to a huge deficit in total.

[@TheIceThorn]

That's just plasma generation, not actual fusion... if it were fusion you would have just have had a neutron shower...

[@MWFchaos731]

Just found your channel. Of course you have a video with Simone! I’ve been subscribed to her channel for awhile. She has a very bright mind and able to see what most of us can’t.

[@deanlawson6880]

Such an interesting video making fusion happen in Simone's workshop with David from Helion Energy!! Excellent!

[@PhingChov]

Best co-lab ever

[@Luke-zb4hm]

Stop miseducating people its not fusion and its not how fusion works

[@SnowboundAxis]

The guy who is leading the field is coaching this video…

[@ameristanbouli5063]

this is the best homemade fusion reactor video so far ,very informative thank you

[@brettchr777]

I love it when Simone asks if the metal plates in her head will be a problem. Simone: You are an inspiration to us all !!!

[@generischerkanal]

4:10 that is not right. You would fuse deuterium with deuterium into helium 3 and a neutron or into tritium and a proton. The d+d->he4 reaction is kinematically pretty much impossible, unless you have another nucleus close-by to offload momentum onto. Also in general, im am unsure how I feel about these collabs Helion energy has with content creators (there was another video recently with real engineering). In my opinion, Helion is a borderline scam, which these content creators cannot properly judge of course, given their lack of knowledge in the area. Still, it feels a bit off, they shouldnt be promoting something they dont understand. Speaking as a fusion enthusiast and physics student, who has taken some fusion research and plasma phyiscs courses.

[@DehimVerveen]

I don't know much about fusion and plasma physics, but this video did make me a bit more sceptical about Helion energy. Particularly because of neutron radiation and they also did not verify whether fusion was actually happening. Are these concerns valid? Could you elaborate on Helion being a scam? I've been seeing a lot of videos about Helion recently where it seems like a very promising technology with potential and to a layman like me it makes sense that it could work, but I would also like to hear the other side of the story.

[@generischerkanal]

@@DehimVerveen Well, what Helion Energy is trying to do is Helium3-Deuterium fusion, unlike pretty much anyone else out there including serious research institutions like JET, NIF, and hopefully, some time soon, ITER, who are all trying to do Tritium-Deuterium fusion. He3-D fusion is much harder than DT fusion, requiring Temperatures about three times higher (which translates to thermal radiation losses 81 times higher), as well as Helium 3, which only occurs naturally in minute quantities, so they want to create it artificially whith Deuterium-Deuterium fusion, which is even harder to get to break even. So doing He3-D fusion is like wanting to run a marathon when you cannot yet even walk. A useful (not all-powerful, but useful) measure of how close a reactor is to energy breakeven is the triple product of temperature, confinement time and density (or pressure in some formulations, those are proxies for one another). Helion does not publish the triple product it reaches (which is a massive red flag), but from what you can cobble together (e.g. the size of their capacitor banks) they only manage confinement for at max a couple hundred microseconds, which is just way too short (ITER is going for something on the order of seconds), temperatures of a couple keV, which is still off by a factor 5 or so and density is fundamentally capped by magnetic field strength. Since they wont be going anywhere near the 13 Tesla field of ITER, there is no way they will get a decent density either. Then there is the very concept itself. Field-reversed configuarations have large ion gyroradii, which means just a couple collisions are enough to diffuse through the magnetic field, which means, bad confinement, probably much shorter than even the short time for which their fields are up and running. In short, they would probably have to improve the performance of their device by 3 orders of magnitude (which I reckon is not even remotely possible) just to get to the level where Tokamaks (JET, ITER) are. And then, toss in another factor 10 (its more, really, but who cares at this point) for added dificulty due to He3-D fusion, to get to viability. In short, there is no freaking way they can make it work. They are just pulling in money from gullible silicon-vally types by making dazzling claims, with no substance behind it.

[@viewspan]

​@@generischerkanalThanks for writing that. Something I don't understand is that they plan to have it unshielded in Microsoft datacenters. I get that the DD reaction to produce the helium 3 will be done elsewhere, shielded, but in the D+3He generator unshielded in Azure, won't the deuterium react with itself, producing neutrons that would harm the operators? Or is there another reaction that cancels the effects?

[@generischerkanal]

@@viewspan No, you are correct. DD has two reaction routes, one of which releases high-energy neutrons, the other one of which releases tritium, which in turn reacts much more readily with the deuterium than the helium, releasing super-high-energy neutrons. Definitely not safe outside a heavily shielded reactor.

[@josephpugh1331]

Absolutely zero fusion happened during this video.

[@muhammadrezafeiz1911]

this video is freaking awsome, this is gold, dimond, i wish i would see more videos like this

[@ralphwbms]

Their excitement in watching the fusion reaction is priceless. I bet it was a similar excitement when the first of us saw fire for the first time thousands of years ago. It's beautiful how far we've come.

[@AlukaXD]

I don't want to see her electricity bill

[@pacify11]

This is so coool 💯

[@MrNobody6311]

This video was uploaded 8 mins ago. How tf you did comment one day ago 👀👀

[@keshavjha8482]

Were you part of the filming crew?

[@jborjas94]

This was a great video! I never thought you could have a fusion reaction in your own home. Now I want one lol

[@cerebralideas]

I love the genuine excitement and fun shared in this video. It made me smile so big while watching it. So, thanks.

[@alacastersoi8265]

bruh they all have cancer if they did fusion

[@MorvenLewisEverley]

Hate to downvote a video such as this, I love the subject matter and the science (and maybe I am getting old and cranky) but I am so tired of over sensationalised editing in videos like these. Apparently we need dramatic music if something goes wrong or little twinkly notes to symbolise that "a good thing happened". Also the hard cuts are just obnoxious... A+ for the idea, but dislike for the execution.

[@downey2294]

people are also saying they didn't actually do any fusion

[@MorvenLewisEverley]

@@downey2294 I have already forgotten the video so I will take your word for it! I did notice though that "We do fusion in our garage" actually means "you can do fusion in your garage as long as it is the size of a workshop, you have several grand's worth of equipment and physicist on hand" 🤨

[@downey2294]

@@MorvenLewisEverley well it is possible to create a fusor in your garage with parts from home depot. its just ill advised to do such a thing. since apparently fusion generates a lot of x-ray radiation which causes cancer. you can see them sitting right next to the device that is supposedly generating allot of x-rays.

[@MorvenLewisEverley]

@@downey2294 I imagine it is, but this video appears to use components that look quite expensive. I could be wrong though, but I don't think they mention the cost of the materials they use in this video...

[@DerrickOlivier]

@cleo, this is so great that you were able to demonstrate fusion in such an accessible way. I am curious if you’ve ever heard of Bloom Energy and the Bloom Boxes that use chemical coatings to convert air to energy? Sixty Minutes did a special on them in the early 2000’s and apparently Google purchased several large commercial “bloom boxes,” but I’ve not heard more.

[@decoheth]

Great work on the editing and graphics. Makes a huge difference

[@geirthieussbimkravahl]

This guy is to fusion physics what chiropractors are to science based modern medicine. He’s a quack. He’s the next Trevor Milton. No, you did not do fusion.

[@cabbagecollector618]

This is a colab i didnt know i needed! I love the energy and excitement 😁

[@jlbarrera]

Cleo, I so love your channel… please continue creating content, your content is so interesting! All explained in English, and all of your content is inspiring Congratulations!! And please, keep creating! You’re the best!!! And thank you for making me smarter every day!!

[@PrateekSaini]

Cleo, a great set of videos. Loved every second of them. Just one question. how dangerous is it to set up such a fusion reactor in your backyard? what are the risks?

[@aceA21A21]

Amazing timing given the news of fusion breakthrough from LLNL

[@LucaCavaletto]

One the best projects I have seen in 2022! Now I REALLY want to build one myself and stare at it for a couple of hours

[@matthewhebbert2751]

This was great timing for the video with the new fusion news

[@hudsonserwanga]

Cleo, I really really love your work, the excitement before Watching your videos is just so outstanding. Keep up your good work, I am your number one fan

[@chrisp3858]

7:15 I know the sound of turbos spinning down fast and it's always a bad sign but i love it especially when you know how fast they spinning

[@stevevogt]

Wow, your video came out on the DAY that the United States just found a breakthrough in Fusion. Unreal on the timing. Glad to be here for this historical moment.

[@nolongeravailable108]

this was by far the most interesting youtube video i have seen in years. Thank you so much for this educational video!!

[@Thawney]

I can’t believe the timing of this video!! Also it’s such a lovely video thank you

[@AcrosstheNanoverse]

This is so fun! Love the journey and the results. What an incredible demo!!

[@Dr.K.626]

Hi Cleo! Thank you for your wonderful explanations. I'm a college professor and CEO. In both roles, your videos have been highly useful to explain concepts and explain my vision. I owe you!!

[@bloomingvision]

That was a great video, sincerely. I love this company Helion, they are exceptional and its great to have them locally. One of the most advanced fusion companies in the US.

[@Dkarp04]

I found you on shorts! Great vids!!