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In Chadwick's experiment, alpha particle from a source are bombarded on beryllium atom and fusion occurs to produce carbon atoms. My question is that if it is that easy to cause nuclear fusion, then why do physicists need such complicated machinery to do nuclear fusion, why not just bombard with alpha particles?

Since, we can control the rate of emission of alpha particles from the source, such fusion might actually be controllable, right?

I really regret if this is a stupid question, I'm just a physics enthusiast.

user79161
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It can be concluded that yes we can actually do nuclear fusion by simply bombarding the nucleus with alpha particles.

However, as has the pointed out the helpful people of our community, the real deal is to get more energy out of fusion than that which we use to initiate it and sustain it.

Lastly, thank you to all those who made this answer possible:-

@PM 2Ring @dmckee @Carl Brannen

user79161
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