What kind of a thermometer measures that much heat?
How can that much heat be generated without vaporizing everything in the vicinity?
and how much did this cost us taxpayers?
That's what I'm wondering as well.
The phenomenon may be due to some sort of secondary fission of the heated material. Temperatures that high could very plausibly get into the range of where any kind of material would come apart on an atomic level.
I find the method used to determine the temperature to be just as fascinating as the phenomenon itself.
The average stun gun produces 500,000 volts but it won't kill ya because of low amps, but do not stick your finger in a light socket.Extreme High heat very low quantity.
They tell by the energy of the emitted photons. Just like a blacksmith can tell how hot a piece of steel is by whether it's red-hot, yellow-hot, or white hot
An even stupider question ..Why the hell did they do it ?
"We have all used thermometers to measure the level of heat but sometimes we need to measure heat in places where you can't put a thermometer. For example, in space, in molten metals and in hot fires. To make measurements in these situation we need instruments which can measure heat without touching the heat source. These instruments measure the heat radiation emitted by the heat source. Examples of these types of devices are infrared cameras and detectors"
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/light_lessons/thermal/detect.html