Turning 1 kg of Hydrogen in Helium Releases as Much Energy as Burning 20,000 Tons of Coal
Our existence is sustained by the sun's ongoing fusion reaction, which converts hydrogen into helium and generates heat and light. We all want someone will one day perfect fusion here on Earth since it would make life a lot simpler. Fusion is a terrible way to generate power. However, in the meanwhile, we must make do with technologies like nuclear fusion, solar energy, and plain old fossil fuel burning.
When put on the same scale, the differences between fusion and coal burning are so absurd that they appear to be made up. By that, we mean the difference between the amount of coal that must be burned on Earth to provide the same amount of energy as that produced when the sun converts one kilogram of hydrogen into helium.
630 trillion joules, or what you'd get from burning 20,000 tons of coal, are released in the reaction of one kilogram of hydrogen turning into helium. The sun will consume 1.95 x 1029 kg of hydrogen over its lifetime. The sun produces 3.9 x 1026 watts of power in a single second. To put that into perspective, the sun generates more energy in a single second than the entire planet would consume in a few hundred thousand years.
- Power releases: 630 trillion joules
