Physicists create highest man-made temperature ever - June 28th 2012

Capt'n Midnight

andy1249 wrote: »

When The Pioneers of the field worked out the basics of quantum mechanics at the Solvay conference in 1927 , short sighted people at the time would have said it was all just guff and nonsense , but the fact is , without quantum theory and an understanding of sub atomic particles

Quantum mechanics => Lasers

seamus

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Technology wise Africa is only a few years behind us, for stuff like Mpesa they are ahead.

There are a few arguments that in some ways for the delivery of end-consumer telecoms, many of the African nations are better placed than developed nations because they have such a small amount of physical infrastructure that there are few competitive barriers for wireless tech. So it works out more cost-effective to roll out your city-wide wireless broadband network because you're not competing with fixed-line operators for subscribers.

Overall, the "that money could be sent to Africa" argument is as silly as the, "Finish your sandwich, there are starving kids in Ethiopia" rhetoric that our teachers used to love.
Most direct foreign aid to Africa ends up in some warlord's bank account or being spent on weapons. Non-direct aid to the likes of concern and goal is mostly spent on administration and staff wages.

Capt'n Midnight

norrie rugger wrote: »

Nope, these came about after the discovery of the Laser. So what I mean is that experimentation for experimentation sake is not a waste of money

I was just pointing out that Lasers were just an extension of existing Maser technology.

Masers were the big step in the dark.

Thing is if lasers did work then there are many obvious uses of a very bright light source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photophone optical comms in 1880

Haelium

On the subject of aid to Africa, most "Aid" does more harm than good. Until the population problem in third world countries is solved, sending food over just means more starving kids in the long run. Throwing money at a problem doesn't make it go away.

Altruism should not be based on emotion, give it a few hundred years and this discovery may help Africa far more than all the "Aid" sent in the last 5 years.

Repeat after me kids: Application comes after discovery.

Ruski

JohnMarston wrote: »

Sorry for irking so many people in this thread. I'm all for scientific advancement that benefits mankind, i just dont see the value in what was accomplished in reaching a higher man-made temperature.

Fusion occurs at high temperatures. Fusion = good. Though not very profitable..

hooradiation

JohnMarston wrote: »

Yes, i cannot percieve the invention of the lightbulb, the mobile phone, the airplane, personal computers, the internet and so on.

Its all just over my head :rolleyes:

As is basic reading comprehension.

"a scientific achievement" is singular. In this case the experiment in question, quite why and how you extrapolated that out as you did is something I am hopeful will remain a mystery.

If certain people read about all that's being done on the International Space Station they'd lose their ****. :pac: There's a lot up there being done that at first seems to have little practical use unless we're going to be colonising other planets but there are almost always unexpected uses that pop up.

Sulla Felix

Unfortunately the negative attitude exhibited by some in this thread is endemic in Ireland. Just take a look at the pointless restrictions placed on the recently announced r and d funding from government.

hooradiation

Deleted User wrote: »

If certain people read about all that's being done on the International Space Station they'd lose their ****. :pac: There's a lot up there being done that at first seems to have little practical use unless we're going to be colonising other planets but there are almost always unexpected uses that pop up.

People just have very narrow views of "use" when it comes to science. It's an amazing ignorance coupled with some blatant false dichotomy bullshit.

But it does provides a good yardstick for who shouldn't be listened to in future, so it's not totally without it's use.

Capt'n Midnight

prinz wrote: »

Faster popcorn!

Should we start a boards pool on how long it is before some nutbag gets arrested for trying to build a homemade collider in his garden/apartment/ garage :pac:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn

Dravokivich

I don't think Kelvins means much to the general readership of the particular site. They are setting the article to their audience, what's wrong with that?

Overheal

Clareman wrote: »

How the f**k can they calculate the temperature in Fahrenheit? That was invented by using the theory that the coldest you could get was freezing saltey water in Germany, use Kelvin ffs

Im sure it was converted from the article. ambient temperature is always scientifically measured in Kelvin.

smash wrote: »

How could then read that temperature?

Presumably 2 atoms of gold don't generate a whole great sum of heat, even if it gets up to 7 trillion degrees of whatever have you. They can measure using readings at a distance from the impact point and run all the math for the relativity involved. I think there are also spectrometers and several other ways that you can measure the wavelength of infrared that comes off of something like that in order to calculate the heat produced as well.

So no I'm not really sure exactly how but I could at least see it being possible.

mathstalk

JohnMarston wrote: »

No, more like: Stop fruitless scientific endeavour until we've addressed basic human rights

Fruitless? You fool! Discoveries like this will lead to the development of fusion. That means unlimited clean energy! Poverty in the world has a lot to do with the energy crisis. If we can crack fusion the world will be a much better place. If you're going to comment critically about something, make sure you've done some research prior.