• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Most Powerful Laser

Most Powerful Laser

May 5, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/080505_sciup_most.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Making stars in the laboratory…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Want to create a miniature star right on your tabletop? All you need, according to physicist Todd Ditmire of the University of Texas at Austin, is a laser with a petawatt of power.

TODD DITMIRE (University of Texas at Austin):
That’s a quadrillion watts or thousand trillion watts.

HIRSHON:
He says the Texas Petawatt Laser concentrates this huge amount of energy and releases it as a pulse of light lasting only a tenth of a trillionth of a second.

TODD DITMIRE:
So for a short period of time over a very small area we have the brightest light in the universe.

HIRSHON:
The laser heats matter to temperatures exceeding that of the center of most stars, allowing scientists to observe astronomical events in miniature. Eventually, the world’s most powerful laser could be used to ignite fusion reactions for energy production. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Astronomy & Space, Energy, Engineering & Technology, Environment & Conservation, Materials Science, Mathematics, Physics
Previous Post:Podcast
Next Post:Expanding Atherosclerosis

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos