Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking

by Charles Seife

Overview

With his knack for translating science into understandable, anecdotal prose and his trademark dry humor, award-winning science writer Charles Seife presents the first narrative account of the history of fusion for general readers in more than a decade. Tracing the story from its beginning into the twenty-first century, Sun in a Bottle reveals fusion's explosive role in some of the biggest scientific scandals of all time. Throughout this journey, he introduces us to the daring geniuses, villains, and victims of fusion science. With the giant international fusion project ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) now under construction, it's clear that the science of wishful thinking is as strong as ever. This book is our key to understanding why.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143116349
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/27/2009
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.24(w) x 7.92(h) x 0.79(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Charles Seife is the author of five previous books, including Proofiness and Zero, which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for first nonfiction and was a New York Times notable book. He has written for a wide variety of publications, including The New York Times, Wired, New Scientist, Science, Scientific American, and The Economist. He is a professor of journalism at New York University and lives in New York City.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

…substantive and lively …Seife writes with effortless clarity, taking readers through the complex physics and engineering. That means the reader can not only understand but, even better, evaluate Seife's message
—The New York Times

Ann Finkbeiner

Written with clarity and infectious enthusiasm that are rare in science writing. . . . Zero is really something.

The Washington Post

Science reporter Seife (Journalism/NYU; Decoding the Universe, 2007, etc.) clearly explains the power behind both the sun and the hydrogen bomb, hyped as a possible source of cheap energy despite 60 years of research that has produced little except headlines. The author begins with a history of nuclear fission and fusion, including a surprisingly comprehensible account of how they work. His lucid prose enables nonscientists to easily understand the operation of a hydrogen bomb or the means by which researchers hope to harness fusion to generate electricity. Fission occurs when large molecules (uranium, plutonium) split into smaller ones. In fusion, the opposite occurs: The smallest molecules (deuterium and tritium, forms of hydrogen) slam together to form larger ones, mostly helium. This generates far more energy than fission but happens only at a temperature of millions of degrees that would vaporize any container. As a result, researchers suspend hydrogen in mid-air using magnetic fields or lasers, then apply enormous energy to heat it. By the 1950s, fusion was occurring for a fraction of a second, but sustaining it has proved difficult. Larger and increasingly expensive devices have produced only modest improvements, and the world's hopes now lie in a titanic, internationally financed project based in France that will cost more than $10 billion and begin operation after 2016. Seife does not ignore the media circus that exploded in 1989 when several reputable researchers announced they had produced fusion in a laboratory at room temperature. When others couldn't reproduce their findings and it turned out they had fudged some data, most scientists grew skeptical, but there remains anenthusiastic movement, including a few scientists, convinced that the greedy "hot-fusion establishment" is suppressing a world-shaking discovery. A relentlessly entertaining tale of scientists pursuing a dazzling dream that, in the author's educated opinion, may never come true. Agent: Katinka Matson/Brockman, Inc.

Kirkus Reviews

Nuclear weapons were invented and deployed to end the U.S. war with Japan, but Edward Teller began a series of studies after WWII to discover peaceful uses for atomic energy. Fusion—the energy of the sun—showed the most promise to Teller but proved elusive in propagation and containment. Using plasma, magnets, and lasers, many men searched for the secret they called cold fusion. Narrator Bill Weideman disarms the potential intimidation of this complex topic by making the ideas conversational. His scientific vocabulary never falters, and his ability to sound like a teacher describing the historical parts of discovery make one want to keep listening. Without any complicated formulas or structures, the story of the taming of hydrogen's energy adapts well to a spoken experience. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2009 - AudioFile