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In case you haven’t heard, China is currently experimenting with an “artificial sun”. Bizarre as it sounds, it’s a move to generate clean energy in the near future. The effort is called Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) and so far it’s a success. As per multiple reports, the artificial sun burns five times hotter than the real sun. Considering the sun is 12 million degrees Celsius at the core, that’s pretty hot!
China: *Makes Artificial Sun*
Pilot landing in China: pic.twitter.com/NVpEkPadoU
— Big-Gamer 9000 (@BigGame44375632) January 4, 2022
China made an artificial sun?!? pic.twitter.com/r7Aqmw146w
— Dylan (@DylanL0ng) January 5, 2022
The full story however, isn’t all that crazy.
Last week, China tested the device that is a fusion reactor and researchers were able to maintain a high temperature for 17 whole minutes. In this latest test, the temperature of the artificial sun EAST was recorded at 70 million degrees Celsius as per reports on South China Morning Post. And it ran for 1,056 seconds which is 17 minutes and 36 seconds to be precise. This major breakthrough has broken a world record.
SEE ALSO: NASA Successfully Deploys James Webb Space Telescope’s 70-Foot Sunshield In Space
Gong Xianzu, a researcher associated with the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences summarised the successful test held at the Hefei Institute of Physical Science in Anhui, China saying, “We achieved a plasma temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds in an experiment in the first half of 2021. This time, steady-state plasma operation was sustained for 1,056 seconds at a temperature close to 70 million degrees Celsius, laying a solid scientific and experimental foundation toward the running of a fusion reactor.” as per reports on news portal Xinhua.
China’s progress with the artificial sun is great news. Fusion energy is an alternative to sources of energy like fossil fuels that are quickly running out with the use of petrol, diesel and more. With the increasing calls for cleaner and greener energy given the climate change crisis that is most definitely upon us, this is a big step towards supplying energy demands responsibly.
SEE ALSO: 2022’s First Sunrise Photos Shared By ISS Go Viral For All The Right Reasons
Cover image for representation purposes only.
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