Hottest temperature ever heads science to Big Bang

Yahoo! News ^ | Feb 15 2010 | Maggie Fox

[GL of Sector 2814]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have created the hottest temperature ever in the lab -- 4 trillion degrees Celsius -- hot enough to break matter down into the kind of soup that existed microseconds after the birth of the universe.

They used a giant atom smasher at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York to knock gold ions together to make the ultra-hot explosions -- which lasted only for milliseconds.

But that is enough to give physicists fodder for years of study that they hope will help them understand why and how the universe formed.

"That temperature is hot enough to melt protons and neutrons," Brookhaven's Steven Vigdor told a news conference at a meeting of the American Physical Society in Washington on Monday.

[Fred Hayek]

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=1074

This is the press release from Brookhaven

[a fool in paradise]

Scientists have created the hottest temperature ever in the lab -- 4 trillion degrees Celsius

I think we've found the source of all of that globull warming scientists are worried about. Competing grants...

[a fool in paradise]

fodder for years of study that they hope will help them understand why and how the universe formed.

Scientists will be hiring philosphers for this I presume...

[Seven plus One]

When I read things like that I wonder if these people just make stuff up to get grants.

Nah. High energy physics is genuine science.

http://www.bnl.gov/rhic/default.asp

Big machines operating at these energy levels with the precision needed to collide heavy ions and then measure the results are pretty expensive, though.

[dr_lew]

I’m not sure “melt” is the right word in this context.

What happens when ice melts? In physical terms, the average ambient energy, as measured by temperature, becomes greater than the binding energy of the water molecules, and so they break free of one another.

All you have to do is compare kT to the binding energy. If this is greater than the binding energy of the quarks comprising a proton or neutron, then they do indeed "melt".

[American Constitutionalist]

" If you average in that 4 trillion degrees with the temperature of 1,000 other places on Earth, you can see that the average temperature of the Earth increased by 4 billion degrees. "

And that is hot potatoes.

[ModelBreaker]

“What happens when ice melts? In physical terms, the average ambient energy, as measured by temperature, becomes greater than the binding energy of the water molecules, and so they break free of one another.

“All you have to do is compare kT to the binding energy. If this is greater than the binding energy of the quarks comprising a proton or neutron, then they do indeed “melt”.”

With respect, that seems pretty strained. When water melts, H20 turns into H20. But when a proton “melts”, it turns into something else. But it’s definitely not a proton by another name.

The reporter might as well have described the result of heating H2 or CH4 as “melting.” It’s just binding energy that’s being broken.

[dr_lew]

With respect, that seems pretty strained. When water melts, H20 turns into H20. But when a proton “melts”, it turns into something else. But it’s definitely not a proton by another name.

Of course, the proton "melts" into its constituent quarks.

The reporter might as well have described the result of heating H2 or CH4 as “melting.” It’s just binding energy that’s being broken.

What is the result of heating H2 or CH4? You seem to have combustion in mind, but you don't mention O2. This does point out a flaw in the idea of "melting protons", though, since they are discrete combinations of 3 quarks, rather than an extended conglomeration of identical constituents, such as ice is.

If we admit "melting protons", I guess we would have to admit "melting hydrogen" in the center of the sun, where the electrons are no longer bound to their nuclei. Maybe a stretch, but it does seem to be a legitimate extension of the concept.

[starlifter]

More importantly, where does the white go when the snow melts?

[Tijeras_Slim]

That’s racist.

[Lazamataz]

That temperature is hot enough to melt protons and neutrons"

And clocks.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Scientists have created the hottest temperature ever in the lab -- 4 trillion degrees Celsius -- hot enough to break matter down into the kind of soup that existed microseconds after the birth of the universe."

They are obviously unfamiliar with my mom's turkey pot pie filling.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks GL of Sector 2814.

• 'Perfect' liquid hot enough to be quark soup
• Scientists Re-Create High Temperatures From Big Bang

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