Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine sounds like it belongs in a
James Bond
movie more than it does an Albuquerque research facility. Based on
what it can do, that's not as far-fetched as it seems. What you see
isn't the handiwork of some electric spider -- it's what you witness in
the immediate fraction of a second after the Z's
electromagnetic pulse
kicks in and forks of lightning burst across the 108-foot distance
inside. The pulse in question is key to Sandia's studies of fusion and
the effect of very intense magnetic pressures on materials that normally
refuse to change states. Even in 2006, the Z was putting out pressure
more than 10 million times that of the atmosphere, and it successfully
melted diamond at roughly half that strength. It goes without saying
that we don't want to be anywhere near this kind of energy when
scientists flick the switch, but we're glad to see that something so
pretty
and deadly can help us understand physics.
Click here for a video and more information
[Image credit: Randy Montoya, Sandia National Laboratories]
VIA[engadget,techeblog]
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