Lightning research sparks new discoveryPosted by DaveH at November 2, 2005 5:04 PM | TrackBack
A Florida Institute of Technology study has discovered laboratory-generated sparks can make X-rays.
Joseph Dwyer, an associate professor of physics and space sciences, is noted for previous discoveries related to X-ray emission from natural and triggered lightning.
"We know that X-rays are made in outer space -- in exotic places like the center of the sun and supernovae -- but we didn't think they could be made so easily in the air," said Dwyer.
Dwyer and his team set up their equipment next to a Marx spark generator just to see what would happen. Half the team guessed they would see X-rays, half thought not.
What they found was 14 tests of 1.5- 2.0 million-volt sparks in the air produced X-ray bursts similar to X-ray bursts previously observed from lightning.
"This amazed us," said Florida Tech Professor Hamid Rassoul, a co-author of the study. "It opens the door to answering really big questions about lightning by generating it in the lab. It also tells us that we have a lot to learn about how even small sparks work."
Of course, some goofy noodling of this sort is just the thing that will lead to the discovery of room temperature fusion or wormholes or perpetual motion machinery. Completely out of left field, it'll have everyone at the Physics Dep't. at the University of Chicago smacking their heads and saying, "But of course!"
Posted by: Don McArthur at November 2, 2005 5:30 PM