March 09, 2006

3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit. In a lab. (Celcius converter says that's 20 billion degrees? That can't be right. Wacky metrics.) The sun is 15 million Kelvin, this is about 2 Berzillion Kelvin. Oy! That's hot. How'd they do it?

*shrug* - They dunno.

posted by petebest 18 years ago
  • Something to do with curry and beer?
  • Almost as hot as sexyrobot. But not to me. Somebody else, I mean. Shuddup.
  • You've got issues, man.
  • *dons lab coat, spectacles, pulls down chart* You see pete, as this pie chart clearly demonstrates, the sun is a mass of incandescent gas. As you can see in diagram 2.1, one might call it a gigantic nuclear furnace, where hydrogen is make into helium -- at a temperature of millions of degrees! SCIENCE! Questions?
  • But it's a dry heat.
  • I'll betcha someone accidently mixed ammonia and bleach while cleaning the mop sink.
  • Someone took the chili mold culture out of the fridge confusing it with their lunch. The resulting gas was spicy hot!
  • Said lab assistant Fred Gunderson: "Dad is going to be so pissed when he gets home."
  • If I had to take a wild guess, I'd be wondering if there were some sort of emergent behavior, like some sort of resonance that caused a magnetic field to trap particles so they had a smaller and hotter space to continue interacting, spiking the temperature. /not a high energy physicist //wow! 2 Billion degrees! ///this ain't fark, son.
  • They don't know how they did it, and the temperature was at its hottest when the plasma should have been cooling. WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE STOP FUCKING WITH THIS SHIT???!!! I would like the planet to last a little while longer. Geesh.
  • Two questions: What kind of container did they use? And how did the thermometer fare?
  • *climbs into jeffries tubes to confirm plasma readings*
  • I'd just like to say that Supercritical Fluid is totally my new band name. So you fuckers lay off.
  • Uh, pete, you don't think that 'supercritical' would make harsh reviews pretty easy? Inviting, even?
  • Actually, that was me. Sorry. Won't happen again. I had a cold.
  • WASHINGTON (AP) - The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to strip many warnings from food labels, potentially affecting alerts about arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy and allergy-causing sulphites, among others. Pushed by food companies seeking uniform labels across state lines, the bill would prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law. States could petition the Food and Drug Administration to add extra warnings, under the bill. I used up my FPP before I saw this. Didn't realize they skipped a comittee to rush this through. Someone wanna FPP it? Purty please? Oh, and . . uhh. . . Hot Tub! Ow! Fullawatah! Will it make me wet! . . Hot Tub! Ow! Fullawatah! Will it make me sweat!
  • So how long would it take to boil an egg then? likes to ask the important questions
  • So now they're in nova territory? Or would this be supernova-like temperatures? Maybe they accidentally tapped the quantum vacuum... or maybe somebody forgot a decimal point.
  • We don't want them tapping any quantum vaccuums. It could pop the bubble.
  • Did anyone else think to themselves "Holy shit, that's gonna melt right through the earth's core!!"? Also, what kinda alienfuck material holds 34 billion degrees??
  • Yes it could. But, if they did, I would probably be beyond caring about it. Magnets and vacuum flasks... they hold 34 billion degree things. You know... if its only a little bit of material, like in an atomic collider, 34 billion degrees is really just saying its moving really fast.
  • Oh. That's not as much fun to visualize. Go back to it being a giant vat of flourescent orange jelly-like stuff with a bunch of people in those hazmat fire suits standing around with flaming clipboards.
  • We've managed to distill essence of hotness. Now bring in the homely people for the dipping procedure.
  • *dabs essence of hotness behind ears* *applies salve*
  • petebest, I love that imagery!! what a great painting that would make!!
  • reminds me of this painting The Innocent Eye Test by Mark Tansey which I own a poster print of. Its a great composition, altho when I described it to a friend over the phone once, she said "it sounds like a Far Side cartoon" har!
  • that's a great image - I love the mop. And it does look like a greatly enhanced far-side. What's the significance of the site being "101bananas.com"? Hmm?
  • The mighty Z Machine
  • It was Antonio Banderas and Jessica Alba. Muy caliente !!!!
  • It is operated by Sandia National Laboratories to gather data to aid in computer modeling of nuclear weapons. Yeah, see that's not working for me so much either. Make it an arcade Love Tester.
  • Well, Mord. If they did pop the bubble, I pretty much think we'd all be beyond caring. The universe imploding can have that effect. But hey, on the bright side, it would only be this particular universe. Your alternates will go on oblivious. Well, a few may toss off one or two "who farted?" quips, but otherwise...
  • But, mct, it's best to remember that the sun is hot. The sun is not a place where we could live. But -- here on Earth? There'd be no life, without the light it gives.
  • *returns to science-y books for further inquiry into this curious turn of events*
  • "Also, when the high temperature was achieved, the Z machine was releasing more energy than was originally put in, something that usually occurs only in nuclear reactions." This was Steel Wire and Electricity no? We have lots of steel wire dont we? Anyone excited about this being a useful energy source?
  • I'm still not sure how they measured the temperature. By factoring the speed? I think they just had too much malt liquor while working.
  • I'm not sure about this releasing more energy than was put in thing; the Z-machine sounds pretty lossy. They said that they think the heating may have to do with an unaccounted for visco-frictional thing occurring because of eddies in the plasma.
  • They measure temperature by looking at the spectrum of emitted x-rays. Just like looking at a white-hot metal bar and knowing its hotter than one only red-hot.
  • They measure temperature by looking at the spectrum of emitted x-rays They must get the new guy to do that.
  • "Hey, New Guy. Yeah, you. Get on over here. We gotta job for you." *snicker* "Yeah, see that there thermometer and those oven mitts?"
  • Ha ha. Now go check the gauges that are located on the inside of the reactor.
  • Wait, you guys are totally comfortable with the thougt of determining the temperature of the sun and thousands of stars light-years away, but are shocked to find them detecting temperature inside a lab?
  • I'm totally comfortable with detecting anything inside a lab. Measurement is a different story.
  • Well, except ghosts and UFOs.... and intelligent designers.
  • MonkeyFilter: may have to do with an unaccounted for visco-frictional thing occurring because of eddies in the plasma. And two your change . . and we thank you!
  • I think you'll find Eddie's in the space-time continuum.
  • I know I find them at work. Its annoying.
  • Thanks, that reminds me. I have a hot pocket for lunch.
  • ♪Hot! Pockeeeehts♪
  • How hot is your pocket?
  • Is that a Hot Pocket in your pocket, or are you...blah, never mind.