The U.S Department of Energy has recently completed what is now the largest laser on Earth. Twelve years in the making, this laser located in Livermore, California has many goals. The main purpose of this gigantic structure is to recreate nuclear fusion. Unlike Nuclear fission which splits atoms to create energy, the process used in nuclear power plants, nuclear fusion creates no radioactive waste. Harnessing the energy created from fusion would change all plans for future energy sources. Although the process is extremely costly( the structure cost $3.5 billion) if we were able to control and sustain this source of energy it could swing the current state of our pollution emissions.
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=worlds-largest-laser-nif-2009-04-01
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6 comments:
Really COOL, I was always a fan of nuclear fusion and did you know.... "In the movie "Spiderman II," the web-slinging hero stops the creation of a tritium-fueled laser fusion machine. Doctor Octopus's theory was right, but his machine was too small".
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/15/laser-fusion.html
Did you know that NIF could also, if one day focus its lasers to burn up some spent nuclear fuel from power plants that now sits in on-site pools or cement casks.
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=worlds-largest-laser-nif-2009-04-01
This seems like an amazing piece of technology becuase it really does change the world. This can also reduce greenhouse gasses tremendously. In this facility they also do hydrodynamic experiments, laser-plasma interaction experiments, etc.
http://optics.org/cws/article/research/21872
This is really interesting, and did you know that they can actually soon use this technology to rid the nuclear waste which currently could cause harm to the earth.
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=worlds-largest-laser-nif-2009-04-01
this laser is cool but this laser can also help scientists understand the make up of stars and planets. Also this laser is the size of a football stadium with 192 individual beams.
http://www.physorg.com/news157831025.html
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