5 impressive scientific machines
Know the scientific instruments that are helping researchers to make great discoveries and generate innovations in various fields of knowledge
The man and his wonderful machines . The further scientific knowledge , new tools and equipment are built to help researchers understand the universe , the forces that govern our world and maybe find out more about the origin of all that exists .
Among these amazing buildings of the modern world , surely many people have heard of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN , the European organization for nuclear research, but there are other impressive works by working to science.
Below you can check out five amazing machines that produce and collect information about our world , about the smallest physical particles and over all the universe apart .
1. California National Ignition Facility : the world 's largest laser
At the National Ignition Facility ( NIF ) in the U.S. state of California , 192 lasers are ready to release 4 million joules of energy into your target : no larger than the size of a pea point of frozen hydrogen.
The aim of this laser system is to create the pressure needed to start nuclear fusion - the same reaction that powers the sun on earth , the nuclear fusion could become a source of clean and limitless energy .
To trigger a fusion reaction , the deuterium and tritium isotopes of hydrogen are forced to stay together . To achieve this , scientists must mimic the similar conditions of temperature and pressure at the core of the Sun , as a way to unite the two isotopes .
In NIF lasers pass through a system of amplifiers 1,500 meters in length that increases the intensity of the energy of the rays by a factor of one quadrillion . They reach the target raising the temperature to 100 million degrees Celsius and 100 creating a billion times larger than the pressure of the atmosphere .
In this condition , the center of the lab, deuterium and tritium isotopes of hydrogen fuse releasing energy from their nuclei . Currently , NIF lasers consume more energy than it produces by nuclear fusion , but the research objective is to reach the ignition point , as it is called the inverse of this equation , and thus pave the way for the construction of the first commercial reactors .
2 . James Webb Space Telescope : Hubble 's successor
Scheduled for release in 2018 , the James Webb ( JWST ) will succeed the Space Telescope Hubble mission to investigate the origins of our universe .
With 6.5 meter mirror, the telescope will collect up the infrared light emitted by stars and galaxies and measure their spectra and mapping through four specialized instruments .
As the universe expands, the oldest galaxies move away from us, and infrared light they emit becomes weaker. With the equipment of the new telescope, astronomers may have a novel to the past of stars and planetary systems look and perhaps discover more about the evolution of the universe.
3. Titan Supercomputer: processing of complex data
Titan supercomputer installed in the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S. state of Tennessee, can perform 17,590 trillion calculations per second, allowing scientists to simulate complex processes in amazing detail, from the atmosphere of our planet by nuclear reactions.
The processing capacity is due to a combination of traditional computing data units ( CPUs ) with graphics processing units ( GPUs ) . Originally developed for video games , GPUs are capable of performing hundreds of calculations in parallel , dramatically increasing the processing capacity without increasing power consumption .
Although Titan has recently lost the title of world 's fastest supercomputer Tianhe -2 for the Chinese , the greater degree of specialization of the equipment makes it a better tool for scientists . Among the projects currently working at Titan are research on increasing the efficiency of biofuels and the impact of climate change on Earth .
4 . Large Hadron Collider at CERN : a new stage
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is one of the most amazing scientific instruments ever created by man . Located underground in the Franco- Swiss border, the LHC is the largest particle accelerator and the largest energy existing in the world. The goal of the machine is to produce data on collisions of beams of particles , both protons to an energy of 7 TeV ( 1.12 microjoule ) per particle and lead nuclei at an energy of 574 TeV ( 92.0 microjoules ) .
The enormous amount of data captured by the LHC detectors is processed by the Grid - a global network of over 200,000 computers . After three years of research , physicists at CERN finally confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson , just before the throttle to pause its operations in early 2013 .
Currently , engineers are working on improvements in laboratory equipment to enable the employment of almost twice as much energy in the collision of particles . With this, physicists hope to detect dark matter , a substance that they believe is part of our universe .
The new phase of operations the Large Hadron Collider is expected to begin in 2015 , and research should also look for evidence of supersymmetric particles , a model that is part of theoretical physics .
5 . IceCube : neutrino observatory in Antarctica
Located deep in the South Pole , the IceCube observatory was built to study subatomic particles called neutrinos , especially the high-energy crossing the Earth, providing information about faraway cosmic events such as supernovas and black holes .
Instead of telescopic lenses, IceCube consists of long pipes buried deep in the Antarctic ice. With thousands of optical sensors covering an area of one cubic kilometer of the South Pole, the equipment was designed to capture the tiny flashes produced when neutrinos collide with atomic nuclei of the water molecules of the ice.
In two years of research, IceCube has detected 28 high-energy neutrinos, confirming the hypothesis of scientists that these particles could be studied even on Earth. In tracing the origin of these neutrinos, the researchers hope to learn more about gamma-ray bursts, black holes and other events to millions or billions of light years away.
The man and his wonderful machines . The further scientific knowledge , new tools and equipment are built to help researchers understand the universe , the forces that govern our world and maybe find out more about the origin of all that exists .
Among these amazing buildings of the modern world , surely many people have heard of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN , the European organization for nuclear research, but there are other impressive works by working to science.
Below you can check out five amazing machines that produce and collect information about our world , about the smallest physical particles and over all the universe apart .
1. California National Ignition Facility : the world 's largest laser
At the National Ignition Facility ( NIF ) in the U.S. state of California , 192 lasers are ready to release 4 million joules of energy into your target : no larger than the size of a pea point of frozen hydrogen.
The aim of this laser system is to create the pressure needed to start nuclear fusion - the same reaction that powers the sun on earth , the nuclear fusion could become a source of clean and limitless energy .
To trigger a fusion reaction , the deuterium and tritium isotopes of hydrogen are forced to stay together . To achieve this , scientists must mimic the similar conditions of temperature and pressure at the core of the Sun , as a way to unite the two isotopes .
In NIF lasers pass through a system of amplifiers 1,500 meters in length that increases the intensity of the energy of the rays by a factor of one quadrillion . They reach the target raising the temperature to 100 million degrees Celsius and 100 creating a billion times larger than the pressure of the atmosphere .
In this condition , the center of the lab, deuterium and tritium isotopes of hydrogen fuse releasing energy from their nuclei . Currently , NIF lasers consume more energy than it produces by nuclear fusion , but the research objective is to reach the ignition point , as it is called the inverse of this equation , and thus pave the way for the construction of the first commercial reactors .
2 . James Webb Space Telescope : Hubble 's successor
Scheduled for release in 2018 , the James Webb ( JWST ) will succeed the Space Telescope Hubble mission to investigate the origins of our universe .
With 6.5 meter mirror, the telescope will collect up the infrared light emitted by stars and galaxies and measure their spectra and mapping through four specialized instruments .
As the universe expands, the oldest galaxies move away from us, and infrared light they emit becomes weaker. With the equipment of the new telescope, astronomers may have a novel to the past of stars and planetary systems look and perhaps discover more about the evolution of the universe.
3. Titan Supercomputer: processing of complex data
Titan supercomputer installed in the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S. state of Tennessee, can perform 17,590 trillion calculations per second, allowing scientists to simulate complex processes in amazing detail, from the atmosphere of our planet by nuclear reactions.
The processing capacity is due to a combination of traditional computing data units ( CPUs ) with graphics processing units ( GPUs ) . Originally developed for video games , GPUs are capable of performing hundreds of calculations in parallel , dramatically increasing the processing capacity without increasing power consumption .
Although Titan has recently lost the title of world 's fastest supercomputer Tianhe -2 for the Chinese , the greater degree of specialization of the equipment makes it a better tool for scientists . Among the projects currently working at Titan are research on increasing the efficiency of biofuels and the impact of climate change on Earth .
4 . Large Hadron Collider at CERN : a new stage
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is one of the most amazing scientific instruments ever created by man . Located underground in the Franco- Swiss border, the LHC is the largest particle accelerator and the largest energy existing in the world. The goal of the machine is to produce data on collisions of beams of particles , both protons to an energy of 7 TeV ( 1.12 microjoule ) per particle and lead nuclei at an energy of 574 TeV ( 92.0 microjoules ) .
The enormous amount of data captured by the LHC detectors is processed by the Grid - a global network of over 200,000 computers . After three years of research , physicists at CERN finally confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson , just before the throttle to pause its operations in early 2013 .
Currently , engineers are working on improvements in laboratory equipment to enable the employment of almost twice as much energy in the collision of particles . With this, physicists hope to detect dark matter , a substance that they believe is part of our universe .
The new phase of operations the Large Hadron Collider is expected to begin in 2015 , and research should also look for evidence of supersymmetric particles , a model that is part of theoretical physics .
5 . IceCube : neutrino observatory in Antarctica
Located deep in the South Pole , the IceCube observatory was built to study subatomic particles called neutrinos , especially the high-energy crossing the Earth, providing information about faraway cosmic events such as supernovas and black holes .
Instead of telescopic lenses, IceCube consists of long pipes buried deep in the Antarctic ice. With thousands of optical sensors covering an area of one cubic kilometer of the South Pole, the equipment was designed to capture the tiny flashes produced when neutrinos collide with atomic nuclei of the water molecules of the ice.
In two years of research, IceCube has detected 28 high-energy neutrinos, confirming the hypothesis of scientists that these particles could be studied even on Earth. In tracing the origin of these neutrinos, the researchers hope to learn more about gamma-ray bursts, black holes and other events to millions or billions of light years away.
