Technology
China establishes a new world record with their 120 million degree Celsius 'artificial sun.'
China has established a new world record when scientists were able to keep their nuclear-powered 'artificial sun' running at extremely high temperatures for more than 100 seconds.
According to the South China Morning Post, China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) attained a plasma temperature of 216 million Fahrenheit (120 million Celsius) for 101 seconds in the most recent experiment.
Not only that, but the scientists working on the "artificial sun" attained a temperature of 288 million Fahrenheit (160 million C) for 20 seconds. The previous record for a sustained plasma temperature was 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius) for 100 seconds.
The Tokamak device, located at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) in Hefei, was developed to replicate the nuclear fusion process, which occurs naturally in the Sun and stars. The experiment is being conducted in order to create endless clean energy via controlled nuclear fusion.
“The breakthrough represents tremendous progress, and the ultimate objective should be to keep the temperature steady for a long time,” said Li Miao, director of the physics department at Shenzhen's Southern University of Science and Technology.
The EAST project is currently a component of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, one of the greatest worldwide scientific collaboration projects in history.
As many as 35 countries are now working together on a project to harness nuclear fission and attain plasma temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius.
China isn't the only country with a high plasma temperature. Korea's KSTAR reactor achieved a record in 2020 by holding a plasma temperature of more than 100 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds.
