Scientists just switched on the world’s largest ‘artificial sun’

Scientists just switched on the world’s largest ‘artificial sun’ Rob WaughYahoo News UKMarch 24, 2017 Scientists in Germany just switched on the world’s largest ‘artificial Sun’ for the first time – producing light 10,000 times more intense than natural sunlight on our planet. The Synlight experiment in Jülich near Cologne foccuses 139 xenon spotlights on a single point – with a goal of generating climate-friendly fuel. The machine is 45 feet high and 52 feed wide – and produces temperatures above 3,500 degrees Centigrade, hotter than a blast furnace. MORE: Woman who dived into Thames during terror attack named MORE: Eyewitnesses recall moment of Westminster Bridge attack The goal is to produce hydrogen from water – a clean fuel – and eventually, the researchers hope to test the technique with a real solar plant. Follow DW - Scitech ✔ @dw_scitech Watch the world's largest artificial sun burn through a solid sheet of aluminium. 😱 It's called #synlight and is located in Jülich, Germany. 1:39 AM - 24 Mar 2017 3 3 Retweets 3 3 likes Scientists hope that one day, the same technique could be used to produce hydrogen to fuel cars – in a carbon neutral way. ‘We’ve been testing it for the last two months, and this is the first public event,’ said research engineer Dmitrij Laaber. ‘The next step would be to get this reactor to a real solar plant, where it can be tested under real conditions. Our facility is mainly for testing of the components.’ 0:34 / 6:27 Don't Pour Bromine on an iPhone 6S