China Close To Creating ‘Artificial Sun’ That Could End Reliance On Fossil Fuels

Yahoo.com ^

[TigerClaws]

Chinese scientists have managed to create a hydrogen gas that is three times hotter than the sun.

The artificial solar energy could eventually be used as an inexhaustible source of power, ending reliance on fossil fuels and solving the world energy crisis.

Chinese boffins created the gas in a huge magnetic fusion reactor at the Institute of Physical Science in Hefei.

Invented by Soviet scientists in the 1950s, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) features a massive metallic doughtnut-shaped chamber twisted into a figure of eight.

Researchers were able to use the reactor to produce temperatures of 50 million Kelvins (49.999 million°C) and maintain them for 102 seconds.

The core of the sun is believed to around 15 million Kelvins.

[TigerClaws]

From a few days ago but a big deal I just read about this morning. Talk about Middle East chaos if this tehnology works...

[Buckeye McFrog]

SPF 8000, anyone??

[Eric in the Ozarks]

“...boffins...”

[Personal Responsibility]

I am all for the end of fossil fuels as long as it doesn’t negatively impact our lifestyle. If, by magic, they could snap their fingers and replace every fossil fuel provider with some other kind of energy, sign me up.

But so far that’s fantasy.

[refermech]

A black hole will consume us next.

[rarestia]

They’re doing similar work in Europe with Project ITER.

[SueRae]

Wait until the global warming crowd hears this...

[tumblindice]

The 1 Second Thanksgiving Turkey
Preheat oven to 50 million Kelvins ..
(Wear oven mitts)

[central_va]

China creates artificial cities and artificial economy so why not an artificial sun?

[Bratch]

What could possibly go wrong?

[G Larry]

These are only claims so far.

The big issue is to be able to move the “waste heat” away fast enough, and on a continuing basis.

Providing new coolant fast enough is tough....oh....and you want a backup system or two.....

[The_Victor]

ending reliance on fossil fuels and solving the world energy crisis.

What energy crisis? Energy is cheaper and more plentiful than it has been in decades.

Oh that's right it's the pretend crisis that if we don't eliminate the production of CO2 we're all going to die.

[bigbob]

They should test it in North Korea, just in case

[SamuraiScot]

Invented by Soviet scientists in the 1950s . . .

That's a reassuring credential right there.

[GingisK]

That, of course, ends our dependence on fossil fuels.

[SandRat]

RUMOR INT HAS THAT WE'VF HAD THIS FOR A LONG TIME. OUR 2ND GENERATION H BOMB WAS CAPABLE OF THIS. </RUMOR INT

[Daniel Ramsey]

Could it be used to kill an approaching asteroid?

Or to just get to the point, can it be weaponized?

Or miniaturized?

[TexasRepublic]

“boffins?”

Aren’t those a specie of puffins? ;-)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They run the Puffin Picture Book print shop, apparently.

[Steve_Seattle]

The article says China is “close” to creating an artificial sun, but I suspect it would be years before this science could be made practical in an industrial sense.