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Let there be light: Germans switch on 'largest artificial sun'
Scientists hope experiment, which can generate temperatures of around 3,500C, will help to develop carbon-neutral fuel
Hannah Devlin Science correspondent
@hannahdev
Thursday 23 March 2017 08.19 EDT
German scientists are switching on “the world’s largest artificial sun” in the hope that intense light sources can be used to generate climate-friendly fuel.
The Synlight experiment in Jülich, about 19 miles west of Cologne, consists 149 souped-up film projector spotlights and produces light about 10,000 times the intensity of natural sunlight on Earth.
When all the lamps are swivelled to concentrate light on a single spot, the instrument can generate temperatures of around 3,500C – around two to three times the temperature of a blast furnace.
“If you went in the room when it was switched on, you’d burn directly,” said Prof Bernard Hoffschmidt, a research director at the German Aerospace Center, where the experiment is housed in a protective radiation chamber.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/23/worlds-largest-artificial-sun-german-scientists-activate-synlight
