Maple class were lucky enough to be able to visit a sun dome and learn about fusion energy this week thanks to the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. To start with they focused on the different states of matter; solid, liquid and gases and learnt that the sun is a gas. Lying inside the sun dome watching images of space they learnt that the outer surface of the sun is 5000°C and the inner core is 15 million degrees celsius. Part of the workshop involved them acting out how hydrogen atoms fuses together to form helium and discovering what sun spots and solar flares actually are. They also learnt about the MAST, JET and ITER fusion devices which are recreating the fusion taking place on the sun, working towards developing an alternative sustainable energy source to fossil fuels.
