• Question: What is the best element?

    Asked by anon-238733 to James, Hannah, Claire, Chris, Alice on 9 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Hannah Blyth

      Hannah Blyth answered on 9 Mar 2020:

      The element of surprise! Ok, seriously I think Carbon might be my favourite as it is incredibly useful (forms the backbone of many molecules essential for life) and takes many forms (charcoal, diamond)!

    • Photo: James Roberts

      James Roberts answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      For my work, it’s tungsten (symbol W). It’s a heavy element, and has one of the highest melting points of any element (3422 C) so we can make armour for the walls of our reactor that can get super hot without melting. We make a lot of parts that face the plasma (which is where the fusion is happening) out of tungsten

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