Hottest Temperature Achieved on Earth

*iris* · 03-09-2006, 05:34 PM

Record Set for Hottest Temperature on Earth: 3.6 Billion Degrees in Lab
By Ker Than, LiveScience Staff Writer. posted: 08 March 2006 04:39 pm ET

Scientists have produced superheated gas exceeding temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit.

This is hotter than the interior of our Sun, which is about 15 million degrees Kelvin, and also hotter than any previous temperature ever achieved on Earth, they say.

They don't know how they did it.

The feat was accomplished in the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories.

"At first, we were disbelieving," said project leader Chris Deeney. "We repeated the experiment many times to make sure we had a true result."

Thermonuclear explosions are estimated to reach only tens to hundreds of millions of degrees Kelvin; other nuclear fusion experiments have achieved temperatures of about 500 million degrees Kelvin, said a spokesperson at the lab.

The achievement was detailed in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

The Z machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world. It’s designed to test materials under extreme temperatures and pressures. It works by releasing 20 million amps of electricity into a vertical array of very fine tungsten wires. The wires dissolve into a cloud of charged particles, a superheated gas called plasma.

A very strong magnetic field compresses the plasma into the thickness of a pencil lead. This causes the plasma to release energy in the form of X-rays, but the X-rays are usually only several million degrees.

Sandia researchers still aren’t sure how the machine achieved the new record. Part of it is probably due to the replacement of the tungsten steel wires with slightly thicker steel wires, which allow the plasma ions to travel faster and thus achieve higher temperatures.

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.

Sandia National Laboratories is located by Albuquerque New Mexico and is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

-----------

The best part: They don't know how they did it.

PhD 1: They're, uh, gonna want to know how we did that.
PhD 2: Yeah.
PhD 1: Well?
PhD 2: Maybe... it was the wire?
PhD 1: That's dumb.
PhD 2: OK, genius, you think of something.

I'd love to have been in the room when this happened.

*VaughnMichael* · 03-09-2006, 08:15 PM

why do I get a bad feeling about this?
it's gonna turn everyone into mutants or something....lol
or there gonna try again and turn the earth into another sun or something lol...I don't know why but this actully scares me..
-Putrescent

*Raph's Girl* · 03-09-2006, 08:37 PM

Wow! That's hot!

*iris* · 03-09-2006, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Putrescent

why do I get a bad feeling about this?
it's gonna turn everyone into mutants or something....lol
or there gonna try again and turn the earth into another sun or something lol...I don't know why but this actully scares me..
-Putrescent

Yeah... this is "oops we just destroyed the Earth" type of stuff.

*Anarky* · 03-10-2006, 12:27 AM

First a furry lobster, then three billion degrees of warmness. Man, this is so amazing. Imagine all the uses for three billion degrees! I can't wait.

Gremlin · 03-10-2006, 04:05 AM

Great, I'll take two tubes of that thing. I need something to keep my feet warm

**ThirdMarioBro** · 03-10-2006, 04:32 AM

The polor ice caps are fu*ked at this rate.

Say bye bye to New York, LA, Seattle, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and any other coastal city within thirty years. I fear when they figure out how they did it, we have a new weapon on our hands.

Ra · 03-10-2006, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThirdMarioBro

Say bye bye to New York, LA, Seattle, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and any other coastal city within thirty years. I fear when they figure out how they did it, we have a new weapon on our hands.

....oh sh- *her last words are drowned by a huge tital wave that wipes out her existance*

Wonderful. 3.6 billion degrees of raging inferno. I wonder if we can make super crispy BBQ chicken with this new invension?

*Raph's Girl* · 03-10-2006, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThirdMarioBro

Say bye bye to New York, LA, Seattle, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and any other coastal city within thirty years. I fear when they figure out how they did it, we have a new weapon on our hands.

Hmm...Well I don't plan on being in the Seattle area in 30 years anyways....*really wants to move to Canada now*

But think of it this way... if the sun ever dies we now have a way of making a new one.....just like on Star Trek! Now if only they could figure out just how the frak they pulled it off!

*KROW* · 03-10-2006, 01:06 PM

Wait... How did nothing melt?

*iris* · 03-10-2006, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anarky

First a furry lobster, then three billion degrees of warmness. Man, this is so amazing. Imagine all the uses for three billion degrees! I can't wait.

I don't know about the lobster, but the 3 billion degrees could keep a refrigerator running for something like 2 million years.

Quote:

The polor ice caps are fu*ked at this rate.

Say bye bye to New York, LA, Seattle, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and any other coastal city within thirty years. I fear when they figure out how they did it, we have a new weapon on our hands.

They weren't already fu*ked?

This technology doesn't strike me as something that can easily translate to weaponry. Did you see the machine they used to do this?

It's a particle accelerator, complete with dramatic lighting. These scientists have style, even if they don't know what the heck their machine is doing.

Nuclear bombs are already as destructive as you could ever want, and portable, and the technology is here... it really doesn't take a genius to build one. Much better bang for the buck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KROW

Wait... How did nothing melt?

The hot stuff was inside a really strong magnetic field. Not physically touching anything. And it was small.

*The Stryker* · 03-10-2006, 09:09 PM

This all reminds me of the plot in Spider-man 2

*JameO* · 03-10-2006, 10:58 PM

How about we waste money to cure cancer, and then worry about going to Mars! Sound good?

*KROW* · 03-11-2006, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iris

The hot stuff was inside a really strong magnetic field. Not physically touching anything. And it was small.

Oh. Okay. See, I thought I read that right, but I had this feeling that a magnetic field couldn't withstand such high temperatures. I was wrong.

Interesting.

*iris* · 03-11-2006, 10:18 PM

I'm not sure how heat energy affects a magnetic field. That's a good question.

I don't know what I was thinking earlier, because now it seems wrong to me.

But I think it may be a matter of scale and duration... I think that both probably were extremely tiny for these experiments.

Maybe I'll ask a nuclear fusion engineer.

03-09-2006, 05:34 PM	#1
iris moddy mod mod Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: finally escaped the lab Posts: 1,886	Hottest Temperature Achieved on Earth Record Set for Hottest Temperature on Earth: 3.6 Billion Degrees in Lab By Ker Than, LiveScience Staff Writer. posted: 08 March 2006 04:39 pm ET Scientists have produced superheated gas exceeding temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit. This is hotter than the interior of our Sun, which is about 15 million degrees Kelvin, and also hotter than any previous temperature ever achieved on Earth, they say. They don't know how they did it. The feat was accomplished in the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories. "At first, we were disbelieving," said project leader Chris Deeney. "We repeated the experiment many times to make sure we had a true result." Thermonuclear explosions are estimated to reach only tens to hundreds of millions of degrees Kelvin; other nuclear fusion experiments have achieved temperatures of about 500 million degrees Kelvin, said a spokesperson at the lab. The achievement was detailed in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. The Z machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world. It’s designed to test materials under extreme temperatures and pressures. It works by releasing 20 million amps of electricity into a vertical array of very fine tungsten wires. The wires dissolve into a cloud of charged particles, a superheated gas called plasma. A very strong magnetic field compresses the plasma into the thickness of a pencil lead. This causes the plasma to release energy in the form of X-rays, but the X-rays are usually only several million degrees. Sandia researchers still aren’t sure how the machine achieved the new record. Part of it is probably due to the replacement of the tungsten steel wires with slightly thicker steel wires, which allow the plasma ions to travel faster and thus achieve higher temperatures. 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. Sandia National Laboratories is located by Albuquerque New Mexico and is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). ----------- The best part: They don't know how they did it. PhD 1: They're, uh, gonna want to know how we did that. PhD 2: Yeah. PhD 1: Well? PhD 2: Maybe... it was the wire? PhD 1: That's dumb. PhD 2: OK, genius, you think of something. I'd love to have been in the room when this happened. __________________ Appeal to nobler motives. Like pie. [ life is at best bitter sweet ]

03-09-2006, 08:37 PM	#3
Raph's Girl Dierna Soul, Reporter Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Jakku Posts: 10,831	Wow! That's hot! __________________

03-10-2006, 12:27 AM	#5
Anarky Outlaw Hero Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Tannhauser Gate Posts: 4,867	First a furry lobster, then three billion degrees of warmness. Man, this is so amazing. Imagine all the uses for three billion degrees! I can't wait. __________________ Because it's... I dunno... brutal.

03-10-2006, 04:32 AM	#7
ThirdMarioBro Tea Time! Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 8,905	The polor ice caps are fu*ked at this rate. Say bye bye to New York, LA, Seattle, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and any other coastal city within thirty years. I fear when they figure out how they did it, we have a new weapon on our hands. __________________

03-10-2006, 01:06 PM	#10
KROW Meat-n-Potatoes Man Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: State's Anus, NY Posts: 6,472	Wait... How did nothing melt? __________________ - Optimus Acid Trip - Cult of a Half-Shell - Raiden's Bitter Tongue - *I don't try to be funny; I fail at it naturally.*

03-09-2006, 08:15 PM	#2
VaughnMichael I'm Baaaaaaccck! Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 11,833	why do I get a bad feeling about this? it's gonna turn everyone into mutants or something....lol or there gonna try again and turn the earth into another sun or something lol...I don't know why but this actully scares me.. -Putrescent

03-10-2006, 04:05 AM	#6
Gremlin Foot Soldier Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 242	Great, I'll take two tubes of that thing. I need something to keep my feet warm

03-10-2006, 09:09 PM	#12
The Stryker Stupid Rich Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Room 237 Posts: 11,152	This all reminds me of the plot in Spider-man 2 __________________ @~<3 Mom~@

03-10-2006, 10:58 PM	#13
JameO Mad Scientist Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,753	How about we waste money to cure cancer, and then worry about going to Mars! Sound good? __________________ "Lie, Cheat & Steal, Atleast I'm Honest"

03-11-2006, 10:18 PM	#15
iris moddy mod mod Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: finally escaped the lab Posts: 1,886	I'm not sure how heat energy affects a magnetic field. That's a good question. I don't know what I was thinking earlier, because now it seems wrong to me. But I think it may be a matter of scale and duration... I think that both probably were extremely tiny for these experiments. Maybe I'll ask a nuclear fusion engineer. __________________ Appeal to nobler motives. Like pie. [ life is at best bitter sweet ]