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Lighter Elements
Lighter elements, such as helium, hydrogen and lithium have much less mass than heavy elements, and therefore require exponentially more force and energy to cause them to fuse. This is because the electrostatic force that causes protons to repulse one another is much stronger than the nuclear force that attracts these particles. This battery is more easily overcome in heavier elements, although the effect is opposite.
Formation of Stars
Billions of years of heat and pressure on an astronomical scale, caused by gravitational collapse, forcibly caused the fusion reaction in lighter elements, creating the various types of stars in the universe. These were initially entirely made up of the lightest elements, which through further fusion reactions, became heavier and heavier elements which were expelled to form heavier matter that would become planets, moons, asteroids and comets.
The H-Bomb
The thermonuclear bomb, also known as a hydrogen fusion bomb, is a traditional nuclear fission weapon that has been seeded with hydrogen isotopes that use the incredible energy (40 million to 60 million Kelvin) of a nuclear explosion to feed a fusion reaction, which makes the bomb much more destructive. This was originally and erroneously called a "clean" bomb, because hydrogen has an insignificant radioactive half life.
Holy Grail of Energy
Creating a contained fusion reaction of light elements would essentially create a furnace of virtually inexhaustible energy, only limited by storage capacity and technology. As noted in the creation of the hydrogen bomb, the energy it takes to create and sustain this reaction is more than the energy it would output. For this reason, research in this field has persisted for 60 years, with the ultimate goal of producing a fusion power solution that creates energy rather than consuming it.