The mysterious ‘Z Machine’
In 2006 scientists recorded the hottest temperature ever to be seen on the surface of the Earth: 6.6 billion °F (3.7 billion °C).
How was this possible? The Z Pulsed Power Facility, or ‘Z Machine’, is the biggest x-ray machine ever built. The Z Machine is based at the National Nuclear Security Administration research and development laboratories in the United States, New Mexico (USA). The complex was built to research nuclear weapon systems and was linked to the Manhattan Project.
The ‘Z Machine’ is the largest high frequency electromagnetic wave generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure.
In 2006, the ‘Z machine’ produced plasmas with announced temperatures in excess of 2 billion Kelvin or 3.6 billion °F (2 billion °C), even reaching a peak at 6.6 billion °F (3.7 billion °C). This is three hundred seventy thousand times hotter than the surface of the sun.
