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World's most powerful laser
Some interesting tidbits:
1. It's called the "National Ignition Facility."
2. It's the size of a football field.
3. It "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."
4. That convergence creates "a huge release of energy known as fusion ignition."
5. "Beginning next year, scientists also will use the laser for experiments aimed at creating controlled fusion reactions similar to those found in the sun."
6. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand for the unveiling.
7. Picture here (It's small, but I don't want to hotlink or steal.)
So, okay. They say they're going to use it to test the condition of our old nuclear weapons without actually blowing stuff up, to simulate conditions for astrophysical experiments, and as a green energy source.
But come on. You can't tell me that a giant superlaser capable of igniting a plasma fusion reaction isn't the first step to building the Death Star.
And it's better than thinking about the bitter irony of a presumably "pro-life" activist killing an abortion doctor. In a church, no less.
Some interesting tidbits:
1. It's called the "National Ignition Facility."
2. It's the size of a football field.
3. It "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."
4. That convergence creates "a huge release of energy known as fusion ignition."
5. "Beginning next year, scientists also will use the laser for experiments aimed at creating controlled fusion reactions similar to those found in the sun."
6. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand for the unveiling.
7. Picture here (It's small, but I don't want to hotlink or steal.)
So, okay. They say they're going to use it to test the condition of our old nuclear weapons without actually blowing stuff up, to simulate conditions for astrophysical experiments, and as a green energy source.
But come on. You can't tell me that a giant superlaser capable of igniting a plasma fusion reaction isn't the first step to building the Death Star.
And it's better than thinking about the bitter irony of a presumably "pro-life" activist killing an abortion doctor. In a church, no less.
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Austinawesome.But those would have to be friggin huge sharks. Giant space sharks. With fusion lasers.
...
*whoa*
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