2y ago

World's most powerful laser to be built in UK and will be 'million, billion, billion' times brighter than the sun

news.sky.com

The Vulcan 20-20 will help scientists working on nuclear fusion, understanding plasma, new renewable energy sources and studying electromagnetic fields.

7 comments

- I'll take that squillion and raise you two gazillions.

A single pulse from the laser will deliver more power than the entire National Grid, in a blast lasting a trillionth of a second on a minuscule target.
It all sounds very impressive. I wonder how long it'll take for them to start thinking about stuff they could stick in front of it. I did some training with guys who worked at nuclear reactors and they had an almost endless collection of stories things they put into the most radioactive places - the one that stuck with me was a gonk troll doll that slowly lost its fine mop of hair.
- Power of national grid = 30GW according to GridWatch.
  30,000,000,000W * 1/1,000,000,000,000s = 30mJ.
  Which doesn't sound like a lot. It's about the same energy as lifting 6 sheets of A4 paper one metre in the air.
  
  That makes it sound a lot less impressive. I may have to wait a little longer before I can get my supervillain lab properly kitted out with a laser that can punch the Moon in its smug face.
- I was going to say someone is definitely going to try and write on the wall with it from the other side of a warehouse.
  
  That would seem unwise. Sounds like it could punch a hole in the Moon. But I'm no laserologist.

7 comments