Nuclear fusion stumped us for a century. Can it fuel the future?

Scientists-

Hmm

... today use it all the time.

Let's say you found a substance and-

Okay

... you don't know exactly what it is.

This happens all the time.

I'm, like, going through my couch cushions and I-

Yeah

... find something, I'm like, "What the?"

Right.

So you can put a sample into a mass spec and it'll tell you pretty accurately what one molecule of that substance weighs.

Okay.

And since we already know the weights of all the individual elements, you can work backwards to figure out which elements are in your substance and in what amounts.

Hmm.

It basically gives chemists a starting point to identify what they've made.

Right.

They're pretty handy devices, and not just-

Yeah

... for finding out what kind of dust bunny I have under my couch cushions.

Not sure it'd work for that.

Now that Aston has this machine that gives accurate weights, he takes a closer look at hydrogen and helium.

Back then, scientists thought that helium was basically made up of four hydrogen atoms packed closely together, so they figured one helium should weigh about the same as four hydrogens.

Sure.

I guess that makes sense.

Scientists-

Hmm

... today use it all the time.

Let's say you found a substance and-

Okay

... you don't know exactly what it is.

This happens all the time.

I'm, like, going through my couch cushions and I-

Yeah

... find something, I'm like, "What the?"

Right.

So you can put a sample into a mass spec and it'll tell you pretty accurately what one molecule of that substance weighs.

Okay.

And since we already know the weights of all the individual elements, you can work backwards to figure out which elements are in your substance and in what amounts.

Hmm.

It basically gives chemists a starting point to identify what they've made.

Right.

They're pretty handy devices, and not just-

Yeah

... for finding out what kind of dust bunny I have under my couch cushions.

Not sure it'd work for that.

Now that Aston has this machine that gives accurate weights, he takes a closer look at hydrogen and helium.

Back then, scientists thought that helium was basically made up of four hydrogen atoms packed closely together, so they figured one helium should weigh about the same as four hydrogens.

Sure.

I guess that makes sense.