Yahoo News: Record Set for Hottest Temperature on Earth: 3.6 Billion Degrees in Lab

[Skins24]

Man, that Z machine can do everything.
It's also the world's fastest gun.

http://www.livescience.com/technolog...z_machine.html

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/s...ht=fastest+gun

[NASMTrainer]

Wait just a cotton pickin min, In The Fantastic 4, Johnny wasnt allowed to get any hotter because he would go super nova and destroy the world, how did they get around it?

[Ancalagon the Black]

That's a hell of a thermometer that can measure temperatures up to 3.6 billion degrees.

[Mickalino]

That's a hell of a thermometer that can measure temperatures up to 3.6 billion degrees.

Really, they can make a thermometer that can withstand 3.6 billion degrees, yet the thermostat on my home's A/C won't work worth a crap, and the one in my car breaks after only a few thousand miles

[ashburnskinsfan]

For those who are curious about measuring temperatures and containment ...


The temperature is deduced from the profile of the radiation it emits. Much like we don't stick a thermometer in the Sun, we can calculate the surface temperature from the peak wavelength of the radiation (light) we see. In the case of something as hot as the z-machine, the radiation emitted would be hard x-rays.

Containment can happen in a couple of ways. As it is a plasma, a mix of electrically charged particles, it can be deflected by magnetic fields which wrap around on themselves creating a magnetic bottle. Most nuclear fusion experiments try this approach.

The Z-pinch is different. It fires huge currents through thin wires. The magnetic fields generated by these currents compress the wires causing them to implode. So the Z-machine contains the high temperature material by imploding on itself. The amount of mass is very small and so when it does touch the (much larger) outer containment vessel it only heats it rather than destroying it. The goal of the experiment is to understand the physics of nuclear fusion better so that the mechansims inside fusion bombs can be better understood, without actually holding real tests, and also as a way of designing reactors to generate energy from nuclear fusion.

Hope this helps explain.

[Mickalino]

First question I have is......Why? That is pretty crazy though.

Why, you ask ?

I think you know the answer to that question, my young lad.

So China can come back and say they created a temperature of 4.5 Billion Degrees

[Ancalagon the Black]

Thanks for the explanation, ashburnskinsfan. That's pretty cool.

[Cskin]

That's a hell of a thermometer that can measure temperatures up to 3.6 billion degrees.

Yeah.... and one of the younger scientist interns stuck his hand in there to see how hot is was... we're told he went... "wow... that's hot...where's my hand?"

[Mickalino]

Fast Food, will now become even faster.

[ashburnskinsfan]

The news release on the Sandia website does a much better job than the Yahoo piece. It also explains the physics in a little more detail for those who are curious.


http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/ne...-z-output.html


If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

[jrockster21]

That's intense. Imagine being a fly on the wall in there. Bahaha. Fried mother****er!

[Prosperity]

The news release on the Sandia website does a much better job than the Yahoo piece. It also explains the physics in a little more detail for those who are curious.


http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/ne...-z-output.html


If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

What practical implications could this have?

[DieselPwr44]

Word has it that the way the generated that much heat was by putting Santana Moss on a treadmill.

[jbooma]

That's the problem with these science articles in the news they never really explain anything.

Was this in a journal, if so you can get the all the information for it.

The reason why this is important is now they can create the temp of the sun and study it from a distance The energy producing thing is also very important.

[ashburnskinsfan]

What practical implications could this have?

There are two primary applications, both extremely important and related to nuclear fusion:

(1) if you can create plasmas with sufficient energy so that the positively charged ions can overcome their natural repulsion (i.e. atomic nuclei repel each other because they are both positively charged) the nuclei fuse together to form heavier nuclei and excess energy is released. If we can create these reactions in a sustainable and efficient way, we don't need to worry about fossil fuels anymore because the excess energy released is enormous.

(2) creating very small scale fusion reactions such as these also allows study of what goes on inside a thermonuclear warhead, and validate computer modelling, so that the existing stock can be maintained or replacements developed without the necessity of exploding warheads which would violate the current treaties.

Through a better understanding of the physics involved, other applications may appear. It will also help us better understand what we see in some astronomical phenomena.