worlds strongest laser..

[Elliott18t]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090531/...us_super_laser

Originally Posted by AP Associated Press

LIVERMORE, Calif. – The world's most powerful laser, created to help keep tabs on the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile while also studying the heavens, has been unveiled.

The super laser, known officially as the National Ignition Facility, was unveiled Friday at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about 50 miles east of San Francisco.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., were among thousands of people in attendance at the ceremony.

The NIF, which is the size of a football field, consists of 192 separate laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet in one-thousandth of a second to converge simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser.

Federal officials said they planned to use it on a multifaceted assignment that would include ensuring aging nuclear weapons are functioning properly without resorting to underground testing.

Other uses will include the study of astrophysics and experiments in developing green energy programs.

Beginning next year, scientists also will use the laser for experiments aimed at creating controlled fusion reactions similar to those found in the sun.

"More energy will be produced by this ignition process than the amount of laser energy required to start it. This is the long-sought goal of energy gain that has been the goal of fusion researchers for more than half a century," said NIF director Edward Moses.

The laser will be used in astrophysics, allowing scientists to mimic conditions inside planets and new solar systems, something the lab's officials said would allow for conducting experiments that could never be undertaken on Earth before.

I think stuff like this is pretty cool and I thought I would put it out there

[jspek]

does it blow **** up? like...planets?

[doug]

can this laser be equipped on to a shark by any chance....?

[Elliott18t]

Originally Posted by jspek

does it blow **** up? like...planets?

death star is in progress ;)

Originally Posted by doug

can this laser be equipped on to a shark by any chance....?

ahahahaha

[Erik]

nifty. i dont really understand it, but its still way awesome lol

[lownslow95]

Thats pretty freakin badass.

[Scapegoat]

sounds like a nice permanent solution to hairy backs

[c0nfl1kt]

To those of you who don't understand it all you need to know is that it makes Hydrogen atoms fuse together through the process of speeding them up and agitating them in their already confined space. The energy that comes out of two atoms fusing and the sheer energy and closeness of the atoms in order to develop the fusing of two into one is immense. That is why this machine is so huge for such a small amount of hydrogen. Another popular source of galactic energy uses this same fusion: the sun.

When you picture how hard it is to fuse things together just imagine the chances of fusing together yourself against a wall. How many times are you going to have to throw yourself at the wall at what such speed in order to become part of the wall(here come the jokes). But, according to quantum mechanics it is plausible. I mean, the sun is real, and it heats the earth, right? It isn't some kind of super ceramic electric heater that heats this big ol' planet.

[DPancoast]

thats pretty amazing

[c0nfl1kt]

Originally Posted by DPancoast

thats pretty amazing

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. The potential for the energy derived from fusion is outstanding and is true clean energy. I mean, there is more hydrogen in the universe than any other element so we will never run out of it. And, for the first time in humanity's energy history, it's efficient. Meaning we get more out of it than what we put in.

[240sxDann]

Originally Posted by c0nfl1kt

And, for the first time in humanity's energy history, it's efficient. Meaning we get more out of it than what we put in.

That's what makes this more special then anything we've ever had before. I think it is awesome as well. Granted I barely understand it at all, I know things like this can, well, change the world really.

[c0nfl1kt]

Originally Posted by 240sxDann

That's what makes this more special then anything we've ever had before. I think it is awesome as well. Granted I barely understand it at all, I know things like this can, well, change the world really.

Think of the formula e=mc2 which means that every source of mass has an amount of energy multiplied by its mass and the speed of light squared. It just means that mass has an energy equivalent. Also means that a small amount of mass has a huge amount of energy that can be extracted by nuclear transformations and can be extracted by as heat and/or light. Think of "splitting the atom" and the energy a tiny amount of atoms split by the nucleus releases as heat and light(energy). The form they are trying here is just extracting the energy you get when you pound hydrogen atoms together and make them into H(2), not the division of the nucleus of a hydrogen atom.

[doug]

on topic please.. guys. there is an avatar thread.

[c0nfl1kt]

I am also trying to work in my head the potential use of something like this as a means of powering future space craft. Specially exploration crafts that would be initially large enough to accommodate such a huge facility and be built in zero g so we wouldn't have to ship modules into space using inefficient chemical propulsion.

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by c0nfl1kt

I am also trying to work in my head the potential use of something like this as a means of powering future space craft. Specially exploration crafts that would be initially large enough to accommodate such a huge facility and be built in zero g so we wouldn't have to ship modules into space using inefficient chemical propulsion.

awesome, i'm sure nasa is sitting by for your answer

[c0nfl1kt]

Originally Posted by Scapegoat

awesome, i'm sure nasa is sitting by for your answer

Hey, if you don't have anything to contribute to the conversation stfu.

[Scapegoat]

lol you give out **** once in a while, but you can't take a little jab like this?



anyway, this is cool ****. hopefully the energy released in fusion from a single atom isn't enough to set off a chain reaction to atoms nearby which then result in the earth being destroyed

[c0nfl1kt]

Originally Posted by Scapegoat

lol you give out **** once in a while, but you can't take a little jab like this?



anyway, this is cool ****. hopefully the energy released in fusion from a single atom isn't enough to set off a chain reaction to atoms nearby which then result in the earth being destroyed

I hope the containment field is strong enough. They don't give any concrete details on the energy dispersion field or the containment field.

[R22B]

Originally Posted by c0nfl1kt

I hope the containment field is strong enough. They don't give any concrete details on the energy dispersion field or the containment field.

I think the better question is if it can take down Chunk.

[Spocknasty]

I gotta swap one of those into the Honda!