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How hot can it get?


tk102

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How hot is hot? How about 3.6 billion degrees? (2 billion for the metric folk)

http://www.livescience.com/technology/060308_sandia_z.html

 

Note interesting 3rd and 2nd paragraph from the end:

One thing that puzzles scientists is that the high temperature was achieved after the plasma’s ions should have been losing energy and cooling. Also, when the high temperature was achieved, the Z machine was releasing more energy than was originally put in, something that usually occurs only in nuclear reactions.

 

Sandia consultant Malcolm Haines theorizes that some unknown energy source is involved, which is providing the machine with an extra jolt of energy just as the plasma ions are beginning to slow down.

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Very interesting. I hope they are able to determine why the plasma emits more energy than they applied as this could have real application in developing alternate forms of useable energy.

 

But 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit? :freakout: Yikes! How did their lab not disintegrate in a fiery inferno?!

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Yikes! How did their lab not disintegrate in a fiery inferno?!
I imagine that they did this on a very small scale. Think of the miles of track they need for a electron accelerator. I'd be surprised if they weren't working on close to molecular level.
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From what I understand, the Z-Machine isn't so much a particle accelerator (in the traditional sense) as it is a mega bug zapper crossed with an MRI. Here's another old article (1998) that shows a picture of the little wires that get vaporized and then pinched in the magnetic field.

http://www.sandia.gov/media/z290.htm

 

 

Edit: follow-up article describing how the observations are made and a picture of the shielded chamber of the Z-machine : http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2004/physics-astron/z-crystal.html

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geek alert. I could swear I saw this on an episode of Trek once :)

spock1.jpg

Captain, high temperature was achieved after the plasma’s ions should have been losing energy and cooling...the Z machine was releasing more energy than was originally put in, something that usually occurs only in nuclear reactions...

 

lolz.. AHTO= The Discovery Channel :) Wonders never cease

 

mtfbwya

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Hmm...Zero-Point energy?

No. Essentially, Zero-Point energy is taken from a vacuum in which the energy is essentially drawn out of leading to the Casimir Effect. As of yet, there is no known practical method to extract usable energy from a vacuum.

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