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whosinpower Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-09-06 10:48 AM
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A giant leap to the future - re energy
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http://www.livescience.com/technology/060308_sandia_z.html

anyone hear of the Z machine?

snip - The Z machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world. It’s designed to test materials under extreme temperatures and pressures. It works by releasing 20 million amps of electricity into a vertical array of very fine tungsten wires. The wires dissolve into a cloud of charged particles, a superheated gas called plasma.

A very strong magnetic field compresses the plasma into the thickness of a pencil lead. This causes the plasma to release energy in the form of X-rays, but the X-rays are usually only several million degrees.

MOST IMPORTANT SNIP -

One thing that puzzles scientists is that the high temperature was achieved after the plasma’s ions should have been losing energy and cooling. 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.

Sandia consultant Malcolm Haines theorizes that some unknown energy source is involved, which is providing the machine with an extra jolt of energy just as the plasma ions are beginning to slow down.

Sandia National Laboratories is located by Albuquerque New Mexico and is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Could this be the future for mankind....an unknown energy source......not founded by fossil fuels......wonder how long they will sit on the technology.........

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