Confusion about fission

Or did I mean to say fusion?

I was blown away, inspired by the news that they can now make nuclear fusion happen and have an energy gain. This news is really hopeful for humanity. Smart people are excited about this.

When I wrote my post on this, I experienced a different kind of fusion. It was a con. Confusion between the words fission and fusion. I wrote the final paragraph incorrectly. I have fission switched with fusion.

This was an easy mistake to make. The two words sound the same, yet refer to very different processes. In one process, things are smashed together to release energy. In the other, things are smashed apart to release energy. Though they words are similar, the directions they move couldn’t be more different.

These actions move in different directions. They bring about similar results. They both release energy that we humans can hopefully use to make life better.

It seems counter intuitive that these two different directions can end up with a similar result. The major difference is the packaging. O…