Fusion Reactions

Deuterium - Tritium

The most common fusion reaction is between the two heavy isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (one neutron) and tritium (two neutrons). As shown to the right, the products from this reaction are Helium, a neutron (n) and a lot of energy.

This reaction has the lowest ignition temperature (explained on the next site), which makes it the easiest to obtain.

Image courtesy of NIF Project (Link)

Some other fusion reactions are:

Note that all fusion reactions end in more than one particle. This is necessary so that the energy released in the reaction can be carried away by the two separating particles. A single particle would fall apart again as soon as it had formed.