Z-machine generates hot plasma gas with a record temperature of more than 2 billion Kelvin

The Z-machine's Sandia Z-machine lab , the world's most powerful X-ray generator set at the Sandia lab in the New Mexico desert, produces hot plasma gas at temperatures The record exceeds 2 billion Kelvin (14 million degrees Kelvin). Unbelievable results and beyond this expectation raises many questions in the scientists.

The Z-machine is a 30m diameter device and 6m high capable of delivering electrical impulses of 20 million amperes on a tungsten filament that is thinner than hair. The tungsten vapor streams and forms compressed plasma gas in a very strong magnetic field. Gas plasma releases energy in the form of X-rays at very high temperatures.

Scientists did not expect that when replacing tungsten wires with larger cylindrical steel, they could reach temperatures exceeding 1 billion Kelvin. ' At first we did not want to believe this. We then repeatedly test it to confirm that this is not a mistake , "said Chris Deeney, project owner.

This test also raises many questions. Researchers have been surprised to note that very high temperatures can be maintained while plasma ions may lose energy and start to cool down. They claim that a strange agent has provided more energy to these ions.

Further research is ongoing to better understand this phenomenon. Anyway, the creation of these high temperatures is very beneficial as it facilitates the study of solar eruptions and allows for the construction of smaller nuclear plants, "said Malcolm Haines. and less expensive.