Record Setting 500 Trillion-Watt Laser Shot Achieved 252
cylonlover writes "Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) have achieved a laser shot which boggles the mind: 192 beams delivered an excess of 500 trillion-watts (TW) of peak power and 1.85 megajoules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to a target of just two millimeters in diameter. To put those numbers into perspective, 500 TW is more than one thousand times the power that the entire United States uses at any instant in time."
Now all they have to do is put it on a shark! (Score:2, Funny)
[rimshot]
Or, to put it another way ... (Score:5, Funny)
now all you need is a spinning mirror... (Score:5, Funny)
...and you could vaporize a human target from space.
Stellar application potential (Score:2, Funny)
I'm thinking, mount this bad boy on a turret on an island somewhere, and use it to destroy asteroids in threat range. I'm much more inclined to do this on a turret on the ground than a satellite; although the satellite would make the weapon more effective against space-based targets, it would also allow it to be directed at points on the earth. As a laser beam can't bend, all you could do to attack terrestrial enemies with it is shoot planes/satellites out of the sky.
Re:To put that in perspective (Score:5, Funny)
... so, where did they get this amount of power? I hope they did not have to trickle load their capacitors for a whole year.
They plugged in a ZPM. [wikia.com]
Re:Now all they have to do is put it on a shark! (Score:5, Funny)
That's not funny.
Alderaan died that way.
Re:Fusion Ignition (Score:5, Funny)
One application of this type of engineering is to serve as an ignition swith for a fusion energy plant.
They should totally tell the guys at the National Ignition Facility about this. </sarcasm>
Re:One Thousand Times (Score:5, Funny)
"To put those numbers into perspective, 500 TW is more than one thousand times the power that the entire United States uses at any instant in time."
Except for the instant when the lasers were on, of course.
Meanwhile, we seek green energy, wind farms, etc. All this so some geeks can fire a laser and then party on about it.
and I wasn't even invited!
Re:To put that in perspective (Score:5, Funny)
correction: rubbing your hands together saying 'muahahaa'
Not such a big deal (Score:2, Funny)
I once did a 180 proof jello shot.
Re:now all you need is a spinning mirror... (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory warning label (Score:3, Funny)
"Do not look into laser with remaining eye."
Re:To put that in perspective (Score:5, Funny)
You have no idea how hard I rub my hands together. Let's just say I've worked up some muscles for that very type of activity.
Re:Now all they have to do is put it on a shark! (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm, did you send it via Skype [slashdot.org]?