Insane Light System Blasts the Energy of 10,000 Suns
From Gizmodo
German scientists have constructed a powerful new light system that can focus energy equivalent to the radiation of 10,000 suns onto a single spot. Eventually, they hope, this “artificial sun” could be used to produce environmentally-friendly fuels.http://gizmodo.com/insane-light-system-blasts-the-energy-of-10-000-suns-1793559653The impressive light system is called Synlight, and it’s located in Juelich, about nine miles west of Cologne, Germany. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) scientists who developed the system assembled an array of 149 xenon short-arc lamps—the same kind used in large cinema projectors—to reproduce and focus as much energy as would be received from 10,000 suns like our own here on Earth.
During today’s launch, the researchers focused the 350-kilowatt honeycomb-shaped array onto a single 8x8 inch (20x20cm) metal sheet. DLR Director Bernhard Hoffschmidt says the system is capable of creating temperatures as high as 5,432 degrees Fahrenheit (3,000 degrees Celsius). The entire structure measures an impressive 45 feet (14 meters) high and 52 feet (16 meters) wide.
So, why would anyone want to create such a hell-on-Earth scenario? The researchers are testing new ways of forcing elements to come into existence, namely hydrogen. Unlike many other fuels, hydrogen doesn’t produce carbon emissions when burned, so it doesn’t contribute to global warming. But hydrogen fuel doesn’t occur naturally on Earth, requiring stellar-like conditions to split water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen—but you undoubtedly remembered that from chemistry class.
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