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The Z Machine generates extreme temperatures and X-rays to study nuclear fusion. It can fuse light nuclei, potentially leading to aneutronic fusion. Originally designed to deliver 50 terawatts, it now delivers 290 terawatts. The electric discharge created is so massive that sparks leap from every metal object in the room.
The Z Machine is a giant machine used to generate X-rays and extreme temperatures to test hypotheses about nuclear explosions. Using a huge power apparatus, he passes a current through a tungsten or steel wire, causing it to vaporize into a charged plasma. At the same time, the enormous current density in the surrounding air creates a magnetic field which causes the charged plasma to condense further, a process known as a z-pinch, from the vertical axis along which the plasma was compressed in early British machines. . The imploded plasma produces temperatures up to 3.7 billion Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees F, and generates an X-ray pulse that can induce a shock wave in a target object.
The temperatures and pressures generated in the Z Machine are so immense that the properties of nuclear fusion can be studied using them. In fact, the peak temperature is about 300 times higher than that in the core of the Sun, where nuclear fusion takes place. The power that the Z Machine can achieve is so immense, that in addition to achieving the “typical” fusion of deuterium and tritium (one of the lowest-temperature forms of fusion), the Z Machine can fuse together light nuclei such as hydrogen atoms or of lithium, which could theoretically lead to aneutronic fusion. If aneutronic fusion could be developed into a practical energy generator, it would avoid many of the biological hazards and handling risks associated with fusion where the energy comes primarily from ballistic neutrons, as in deuterium-tritium fusion.
Originally designed to deliver 50 terawatts of power (enough to power 50 million homes) in a sub-100 nanosecond burst, the Z Machine has been redesigned to deliver 290 terawatts of power. The electric discharge created at the instant of pinching A is so massive that sparks leap from every metal object in the room where the Z Machine is located. The effect produced photos that represent some of the most memorable scientific photographs of 2005. The electrical discharge still occurs despite the power equipment being immersed in 2,000 cubic meters of transformer oil and another 2,300 cubic meters of deionized water. The discharge is known as “arcs and sparks” or simply “lightning”.
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