High in Sodium: Highly Charged Tungsten Ions May Diagnose Fusion Energy Reactors (IMAGE)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

High in Sodium: Highly Charged Tungsten Ions May Diagnose Fusion Energy Reactors

Caption

Sodium-like tungsten ions (blue) are far smaller than neutral sodium atoms (orange) -- the ion's 11 electrons are pulled in very tightly by the 74 protons in the tungsten nucleus, making their energy jumps far more expensive than in neutral sodium and causing them to emit high-energy ultraviolet wavelengths of light, rather than visible light, as is the case with ordinary sodium.

Credit

Talbott, NIST

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