how does it NOT melt everything around it? how does it NOT melt everything around it?The plasma is kept constrained in a small space by strong electro magnets. So it is not inside a container made of material.
And then destroy the Earth?
The particles are confined by powerful magnetic field lines around which they spiral in tight helical paths. Also, the pressure of the plasma is low; it exists in what is essentially a very good vacuum. Recent K-Star literature gives the peak density as about 7x1019 particles per cubic meter, which sounds like a lot until you realize that the density of air at normal atmospheric pressure is about 2.6x1025 particles per cubic meter.
Thus, the density of the 100-million-degree plasma is roughly one-millionth of that of the air we breathe. In other words, there isn't much of it there.
A gas at 100 million degrees does radiate some pretty high-energy photons, hard X-rays, actually close to gamma rays in their energy content. Those pose the real danger, along with neutrons generated by any nuclear fusion events that occur.
how does it NOT melt everything around it?
Most likely confined by a powerful magnetic field.
how does it NOT melt everything around it?
Most likely confined by a powerful magnetic field.