Comments on: Producer's Notes - Super Laser at the National Ignition Facility http://science.kqed.org/quest/2008/04/15/producers-notes-super-laser-at-the-national-ignition-facility/ Explore science, nature and environment stories from Northern California and beyond with KQED’s multimedia series Thu, 24 May 2012 05:51:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Chris Bauer http://science.kqed.org/quest/2008/04/15/producers-notes-super-laser-at-the-national-ignition-facility/#comment-11242 Chris Bauer Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:56:37 +0000 http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2008/04/15/producers-notes-super-laser-at-the-national-ignition-facility/#comment-11242 This week scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory test fired the NIF Laser and took a major step towards creating fusion. According to their report in the journal Science, they were able to successfully fire all 192 laser beams simultaneously at a helium-filled target, instantly heating the tiny capsule to 6 million degrees Fahrenheit. In a billionth of a second, the gas vanished. In order to reach fusion in the future, the lasers will need to heat the target up to 200 million degrees Fahrenheit and create pressures only found in the interior of stars. If they can achieve a true fusion reaction, someday they will be able to develop large scale fusion reactor power plants that could power the world cleanly and safely using hydrogen isotopes from sea water. To read more, see: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/nif-moves-59-million-degrees-closer-fusion-power?page= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/29/MN5K1BOF4V.DTL&tsp=1 This week scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory test fired the NIF Laser and took a major step towards creating fusion. According to their report in the journal Science, they were able to successfully fire all 192 laser beams simultaneously at a helium-filled target, instantly heating the tiny capsule to 6 million degrees Fahrenheit. In a billionth of a second, the gas vanished.

In order to reach fusion in the future, the lasers will need to heat the target up to 200 million degrees Fahrenheit and create pressures only found in the interior of stars.

If they can achieve a true fusion reaction, someday they will be able to develop large scale fusion reactor power plants that could power the world cleanly and safely using hydrogen isotopes from sea water.

To read more, see:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/nif-moves-59-million-degrees-closer-fusion-power?page=

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/29/MN5K1BOF4V.DTL&tsp=1

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