ABSOLUTE ZERO
ABSOLUTE ZERO, the temperature at which all components of the system have the least amount of energy allowed by the laws of QUANTUM MECHANICS; zero on the Kelvin temperature scale, or -273.15°C (-459.67° Fahrenheit). At this temperature, the entropy of the system is the amount of energy suitable for completing useful work, - also equals zero, although the total amount of energy of the system may be different from zero.
Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary.
See what "ABSOLUTE ZERO" is in other dictionaries:
Temperature is the minimum limit of temperature that a physical body can have. Absolute zero serves as the starting point for an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. On the Celsius scale, absolute zero corresponds to a temperature of −273 ... Wikipedia
ABSOLUTE ZERO TEMPERATURE- the beginning of the thermodynamic temperature scale; located at 273.16 K (Kelvin) below (see) water, i.e. equal to 273.16°C (Celsius). Absolute zero is the lowest temperature in nature and practically unattainable... Big Polytechnic Encyclopedia
This is the minimum temperature limit that a physical body can have. Absolute zero serves as the starting point for an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. On the Celsius scale, absolute zero corresponds to a temperature of −273.15 °C.... ... Wikipedia
Absolute zero temperature is the minimum temperature limit that a physical body can have. Absolute zero serves as the starting point for an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. On the Celsius scale, absolute zero corresponds to... ... Wikipedia
Razg. Neglect An insignificant, insignificant person. FSRY, 288; BTS, 24; ZS 1996, 33 ...
zero- absolute zero … Dictionary of Russian Idioms
Zero and zero noun, m., used. compare often Morphology: (no) what? zero and zero, why? zero and zero, (see) what? zero and zero, what? zero and zero, what about? about zero, zero; pl. What? zeros and zeros, (no) what? zeros and zeros, why? zeros and zeros, (I see)… … Dictionary Dmitrieva
Absolute zero (zero). Razg. Neglect An insignificant, insignificant person. FSRY, 288; BTS, 24; ZS 1996, 33 V zero. 1. Jarg. they say Joking. iron. About severe intoxication. Yuganovs, 471; Vakhitov 2003, 22. 2. Zharg. music Exactly, in full accordance with... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings
absolute- absolute absurdity, absolute authority, absolute impeccability, absolute disorder, absolute fiction, absolute immunity, absolute leader, absolute minimum, absolute monarch, absolute morality, absolute zero… … Dictionary of Russian Idioms
Books
- Absolute zero, Absolute Pavel. The life of all the creations of the mad scientist of the Nes race is very short. But the next experiment has a chance to exist. What awaits him ahead?...
Absolute zero temperature
Absolute zero temperature(less often - absolute zero temperature) - the minimum temperature limit that a physical body in the Universe can have. Absolute zero serves as the origin of an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. In 1954, the X General Conference on Weights and Measures established a thermodynamic temperature scale with one reference point - the triple point of water, the temperature of which was taken to be 273.16 K (exact), which corresponds to 0.01 °C, so that on the Celsius scale the temperature corresponds to absolute zero −273.15 °C.
Phenomena observed near absolute zero
At temperatures close to absolute zero, purely quantum effects can be observed at the macroscopic level, such as:
Notes
Literature
- G. Burmin. Assault on absolute zero. - M.: “Children’s Literature”, 1983
see also
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
- Goering
- Kshapanaka
See what “Absolute zero temperature” is in other dictionaries:
ABSOLUTE ZERO TEMPERATURE- thermodynamic reference point. temp; located 273.16 K below the triple point temperature (0.01 ° C) of water (273.15 ° C below zero temperature on the Celsius scale, (see TEMPERATURE SCALES). The existence of a thermodynamic temperature scale and A. n. T.… … Physical encyclopedia
absolute zero temperature- the beginning of the absolute temperature reading on the thermodynamic temperature scale. Absolute zero is located 273.16ºC below the triple point temperature of water, which is assumed to be 0.01ºC. Absolute zero temperature is fundamentally unattainable... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
absolute zero temperature- absoliutusis nulis statusas T sritis Energetika apibrėžtis Termodinaminės temperatūros atskaitos pradžia, esanti 273.16 K žemiau trigubojo vandens taško. Pagal trečiąjį termodinamikos dėsnį, absoliutusis nulis nepasiekiamas. atitikmenys: engl.… … Aiškinamasis šiluminės ir branduolinės technikos terminų žodynas
Absolute zero temperature- the initial reading on the Kelvin scale is a negative temperature of 273.16 degrees on the Celsius scale... The beginnings of modern natural science
ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature, the beginning of the temperature reading on the thermodynamic temperature scale. Absolute zero is located 273.16°C below the triple point temperature of water (0.01°C). Absolute zero is fundamentally unattainable, temperatures have almost been reached... ... Modern encyclopedia
ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature is the beginning of the temperature reading on the thermodynamic temperature scale. Absolute zero is located at 273.16.C below the temperature of the triple point of water, for which the value is 0.01.C. Absolute zero is fundamentally unattainable (see... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature, expressing the absence of heat, is equal to 218 ° C. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. absolute zero temperature (physical) - the lowest possible temperature (273.15°C). Big dictionary... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature, the beginning of temperature on the thermodynamic temperature scale (see THERMODYNAMIC TEMPERATURE SCALE). Absolute zero is located 273.16 °C below the temperature of the triple point (see TRIPLE POINT) of water, for which it is accepted ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
ABSOLUTE ZERO- extremely low temperature at which the thermal movement of molecules stops. The pressure and volume of an ideal gas, according to Boyle-Mariotte’s law, becomes equal to zero, and the beginning of the absolute temperature on the Kelvin scale is taken to be... ... Ecological dictionary
ABSOLUTE ZERO- the beginning of the absolute temperature count. Corresponds to 273.16° C. Currently, in physical laboratories it has been possible to obtain a temperature exceeding absolute zero by only a few millionths of a degree, and to achieve it, according to the laws... ... Collier's Encyclopedia
The physical concept of “absolute zero temperature” has for modern science very important: closely related to it is the concept of superconductivity, the discovery of which created a real sensation in the second half of the twentieth century.
To understand what absolute zero is, you should turn to the works of such famous physicists as G. Fahrenheit, A. Celsius, J. Gay-Lussac and W. Thomson. They played a key role in the creation of the main temperature scales still in use today.
The first to propose his temperature scale was the German physicist G. Fahrenheit in 1714. At the same time, the temperature of the mixture, which included snow and ammonia, was taken as absolute zero, that is, as the lowest point of this scale. The next important indicator was which became equal to 1000. Accordingly, each division of this scale was called “degree Fahrenheit”, and the scale itself was called “Fahrenheit scale”.
30 years later, the Swedish astronomer A. Celsius proposed his own temperature scale, where the main points were the melting temperature of ice and water. This scale was called the “Celsius scale”; it is still popular in most countries of the world, including Russia.
In 1802, while conducting his famous experiments, the French scientist J. Gay-Lussac discovered that the volume of a gas at constant pressure is directly dependent on temperature. But the most curious thing was that when the temperature changed by 10 Celsius, the volume of gas increased or decreased by the same amount. Having made the necessary calculations, Gay-Lussac found that this value was equal to 1/273 of the volume of the gas at a temperature of 0C.
This law led to the obvious conclusion: a temperature equal to -2730C is the lowest temperature, even if you come close to it, it is impossible to achieve it. It is this temperature that is called “absolute zero temperature.”
Moreover, absolute zero became the starting point for the creation of the absolute temperature scale, in which the English physicist W. Thomson, also known as Lord Kelvin, took an active part.
His main research concerned proving that no body in nature can be cooled below absolute zero. At the same time, he actively used the second one; therefore, the absolute temperature scale he introduced in 1848 began to be called the thermodynamic or “Kelvin scale.”
In subsequent years and decades, only a numerical clarification of the concept of “absolute zero” occurred, which, after numerous agreements, began to be considered equal to -273.150C.
It is also worth noting that absolute zero plays a very important role in The whole point is that in 1960, at the next General Conference on Weights and Measures, the unit of thermodynamic temperature - the kelvin - became one of the six basic units of measurement. At the same time, it was specially stipulated that one degree Kelvin is numerically equal to one, but the reference point “according to Kelvin” is usually considered to be absolute zero, that is, -273.150C.
The main physical meaning of absolute zero is that, according to the basic physical laws, at such a temperature the energy of motion of elementary particles, such as atoms and molecules, is zero, and in this case any chaotic movement of these same particles should cease. At a temperature equal to absolute zero, atoms and molecules must take a clear position at the main points of the crystal lattice, forming an ordered system.
Nowadays, using special equipment, scientists have been able to obtain temperatures that are only a few parts per million above absolute zero. It is physically impossible to achieve this value itself due to the second law of thermodynamics described above.
The term “temperature” appeared at a time when physicists thought that warm bodies consisted of more of a specific substance - caloric - than the same bodies, but cold ones. And temperature was interpreted as a value corresponding to the amount of caloric in the body. Since then, the temperature of any body has been measured in degrees. But in fact it is a measure of the kinetic energy of moving molecules, and, based on this, it should be measured in Joules, in accordance with the System of Units C.
The concept of “absolute zero temperature” comes from the second law of thermodynamics. According to it, the process of heat transfer from a cold body to a hot one is impossible. This concept was introduced by the English physicist W. Thomson. For his achievements in physics, he was given the title of nobility “Lord” and the title “Baron Kelvin”. In 1848, W. Thomson (Kelvin) proposed using a temperature scale in which he took absolute zero temperature, corresponding to extreme cold, as the starting point, and took degrees Celsius as the division value. The Kelvin unit is 1/27316 of the temperature of the triple point of water (about 0 degrees C), i.e. temperature at which pure water It is immediately found in three forms: ice, liquid water and steam. temperature is the lowest possible low temperature at which the movement of molecules stops and it is no longer possible to extract thermal energy from a substance. Since then the scale absolute temperatures began to be called by his name.
Temperature is measured on different scales
The most commonly used temperature scale is called the Celsius scale. It is based on two points: the temperature of the phase transition of water from liquid to steam and water to ice. A. Celsius in 1742 proposed dividing the distance between reference points into 100 intervals, and taking water as zero, with the freezing point as 100 degrees. But the Swede K. Linnaeus suggested doing the opposite. Since then, water has frozen at zero degrees A. Celsius. Although it should boil exactly at Celsius. Absolute zero Celsius corresponds to minus 273.16 degrees Celsius.
There are several more temperature scales: Fahrenheit, Reaumur, Rankin, Newton, Roemer. They have different division prices. For example, the Reaumur scale is also built on the reference points of boiling and freezing of water, but it has 80 divisions. The Fahrenheit scale, which appeared in 1724, is used in everyday life only in some countries of the world, including the USA; one is the temperature of the mixture of water ice and ammonia and the other is the temperature of the human body. The scale is divided into one hundred divisions. Zero Celsius corresponds to 32 Conversion of degrees to Fahrenheit can be done using the formula: F = 1.8 C + 32. Reverse conversion: C = (F - 32)/1.8, where: F - degrees Fahrenheit, C - degrees Celsius. If you are too lazy to count, go to an online service for converting Celsius to Fahrenheit. In the box, enter the number of degrees Celsius, click "Calculate", select "Fahrenheit" and click "Start". The result will appear immediately.
Named after the English (more precisely Scottish) physicist William J. Rankin, who was a contemporary of Kelvin and one of the creators of technical thermodynamics. There are three important points in his scale: the beginning is absolute zero, the freezing point of water is 491.67 degrees Rankine and the boiling point of water is 671.67 degrees. The number of divisions between the freezing of water and its boiling for both Rankine and Fahrenheit is 180.
Most of these scales are used exclusively by physicists. And 40% of American high school students surveyed today said that they do not know what absolute zero temperature is.
When the weather report predicts temperatures near zero, you shouldn’t go to the skating rink: the ice will melt. The melting temperature of ice is taken to be zero degrees Celsius, the most common temperature scale.
We are very familiar with the negative degrees Celsius scale - degrees<ниже
нуля>, degrees of cold. The lowest temperature on Earth was recorded in Antarctica: -88.3°C. Even lower temperatures are possible outside the Earth: on the surface of the Moon at lunar midnight it can reach -160°C.
But arbitrarily low temperatures cannot exist anywhere. The extremely low temperature - absolute zero - on the Celsius scale corresponds to - 273.16°.
The absolute temperature scale, the Kelvin scale, originates from absolute zero. Ice melts at 273.16° Kelvin, and water boils at 373.16° K. Thus, degree K is equal to degree C. But on the Kelvin scale, all temperatures are positive.
Why is 0°K the cold limit?
Heat is the chaotic movement of atoms and molecules of a substance. When a substance is cooled, thermal energy is removed from it, and the random movement of particles is weakened. Eventually, with strong cooling, thermal<пляска>particles almost completely stops. Atoms and molecules would completely freeze at a temperature that is taken to be absolute zero. According to the principles of quantum mechanics, at absolute zero it would be the thermal motion of particles that would cease, but the particles themselves would not freeze, since they cannot be at complete rest. Thus, at absolute zero, particles must still retain some kind of motion, which is called zero motion.
However, to cool a substance to a temperature below absolute zero is an idea as meaningless as, say, the intention<идти медленнее, чем стоять на месте>.
Moreover, even achieving exact absolute zero is almost impossible. You can only get closer to him. Because there is no way to take away absolutely all of a substance’s thermal energy. Some of the thermal energy remains at the deepest cooling.
How do you achieve ultra-low temperatures?
Freezing a substance is more difficult than heating it. This can be seen even from a comparison of the design of a stove and a refrigerator.
In most household and industrial refrigerators, heat is removed due to the evaporation of a special liquid - freon, which circulates through metal tubes. The secret is that freon can remain in a liquid state only at a sufficiently low temperature. In the refrigerator compartment, due to the heat of the chamber, it heats up and boils, turning into steam. But the steam is compressed by the compressor, liquefied and enters the evaporator, replenishing the loss of evaporated freon. Energy is consumed to operate the compressor.
In deep cooling devices, the cold carrier is an ultra-cold liquid - liquid helium. Colorless, light (8 times lighter than water), it boils under atmospheric pressure at 4.2°K, and in a vacuum at 0.7°K. An even lower temperature is given by the light isotope of helium: 0.3°K.
Setting up a permanent helium refrigerator is quite difficult. Research is carried out simply in baths with liquid helium. And to liquefy this gas, physicists use different techniques. For example, they expand pre-cooled and compressed helium, releasing it through a thin hole into a vacuum chamber. At the same time, the temperature decreases further and some of the gas turns into liquid. It is more efficient not only to expand the cooled gas, but also to force it to do work - move the piston.
The resulting liquid helium is stored in special thermoses - Dewar flasks. The cost of this very cold liquid (the only one that does not freeze at absolute zero) turns out to be quite high. Nevertheless, liquid helium is used more and more widely these days, not only in science, but also in various technical devices.
The lowest temperatures were achieved in a different way. It turns out that the molecules of some salts, for example potassium chromium alum, can rotate along magnetic lines of force. This salt is pre-cooled with liquid helium to 1°K and placed in a strong magnetic field. In this case, the molecules rotate along the lines of force, and the released heat is taken away by liquid helium. Then the magnetic field is abruptly removed, the molecules again turn in different directions, and the expended
This work leads to further cooling of the salt. This is how we obtained a temperature of 0.001° K. Using a similar method in principle, using other substances, we can obtain an even lower temperature.
The lowest temperature obtained so far on Earth is 0.00001° K.
A substance frozen to ultra-low temperatures in baths of liquid helium changes noticeably. Rubber becomes brittle, lead becomes hard like steel and elastic, many alloys increase strength.
Liquid helium itself behaves in a peculiar way. At temperatures below 2.2° K, it acquires a property unprecedented for ordinary liquids - superfluidity: some of it completely loses viscosity and flows through the narrowest cracks without any friction.
This phenomenon was discovered in 1937 by the Soviet physicist Academician P. JI. Kapitsa, was then explained by Academician JI. D. Landau.
It turns out that at ultra-low temperatures the quantum laws of the behavior of matter begin to have a noticeable effect. As one of these laws requires, energy can be transferred from body to body only in well-defined portions - quanta. There are so few heat quanta in liquid helium that there are not enough of them for all the atoms. The part of the liquid, devoid of heat quanta, remains as if at absolute zero temperature; its atoms do not participate at all in random thermal motion and do not interact in any way with the walls of the vessel. This part (it was called helium-H) has superfluidity. As the temperature decreases, helium-P becomes more and more abundant, and at absolute zero all helium would turn into helium-H.
Superfluidity has now been studied in great detail and has even found useful practical use: with its help it is possible to separate helium isotopes.
Near absolute zero, extremely interesting changes occur in the electrical properties of some materials.
In 1911, the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes made an unexpected discovery: it turned out that at a temperature of 4.12 ° K, electrical resistance in mercury completely disappears. Mercury becomes a superconductor. The electric current induced in a superconducting ring does not fade and can flow almost forever.
Above such a ring, a superconducting ball will float in the air and not fall, like a fairy tale<гроб Магомета>, because its gravity is compensated by the magnetic repulsion between the ring and the ball. After all, a continuous current in the ring will create a magnetic field, and it, in turn, will induce an electric current in the ball and with it an oppositely directed magnetic field.
In addition to mercury, tin, lead, zinc, and aluminum have superconductivity near absolute zero. This property has been found in 23 elements and more than a hundred different alloys and other chemical compounds.
The temperatures at which superconductivity appears (critical temperatures) cover a fairly wide range - from 0.35° K (hafnium) to 18° K (niobium-tin alloy).
The phenomenon of superconductivity, like super-
fluidity has been studied in detail. The dependences of critical temperatures on the internal structure of materials and the external magnetic field were found. A deep theory of superconductivity was developed (an important contribution was made by the Soviet scientist Academician N. N. Bogolyubov).
The essence of this paradoxical phenomenon is again purely quantum. At ultralow temperatures, electrons in
superconductors form a system of pairwise bound particles that cannot give energy to the crystal lattice or waste energy quanta on heating it. Pairs of electrons move as if<танцуя>, between<прутьями решетки>- ions and bypass them without collisions and energy transfer.
Superconductivity is increasingly used in technology.
For example, superconducting solenoids are used in practice - coils of superconductor immersed in liquid helium. Once induced current and, consequently, a magnetic field can be stored in them for as long as desired. It can reach a gigantic size - over 100,000 oersted. In the future, powerful industrial superconducting devices will undoubtedly appear - electric motors, electromagnets, etc.
In radio electronics, ultra-sensitive amplifiers and generators are beginning to play a significant role. electromagnetic waves, which work especially well in baths with liquid helium - there the internal<шумы>equipment. In electronic computing technology, a brilliant future is promised for low-power superconducting switches - cryotrons (see Art.<Пути электроники>).
It is not difficult to imagine how tempting it would be to advance the operation of such devices into the region of higher, more accessible temperatures. IN Lately the hope of creating polymer film superconductors opens up. The peculiar nature of electrical conductivity in such materials promises a brilliant opportunity to maintain superconductivity even at room temperatures. Scientists are persistently looking for ways to realize this hope.
And now let's look into the realm of the hottest thing in the world - into the depths of the stars. Where temperatures reach millions of degrees.
The random thermal motion in stars is so intense that entire atoms cannot exist there: they are destroyed in countless collisions.
A substance that is so hot can therefore be neither solid, nor liquid, nor gaseous. It is in the state of plasma, i.e. a mixture of electrically charged<осколков>atoms - atomic nuclei and electrons.
Plasma is a unique state of matter. Since its particles are electrically charged, they are sensitive to electrical and magnetic forces. Therefore, the close proximity of two atomic nuclei (they carry a positive charge) is a rare phenomenon. Only at high densities and enormous temperatures are atomic nuclei colliding with each other able to come close together. Then thermonuclear reactions take place - the source of energy for stars.
The closest star to us, the Sun, consists mainly of hydrogen plasma, which is heated in the bowels of the star to 10 million degrees. Under such conditions, close encounters of fast hydrogen nuclei - protons, although rare, do occur. Sometimes protons that come close interact: having overcome electrical repulsion, they fall into the power of gigantic nuclear forces of attraction, rapidly<падают>on top of each other and merge. Here an instantaneous restructuring occurs: instead of two protons, a deuteron (the nucleus of a heavy hydrogen isotope), a positron and a neutrino appear. The energy released is 0.46 million electron volts (MeV).
Each individual solar proton can enter into such a reaction on average once every 14 billion years. But there are so many protons in the depths of the light that here and there this unlikely event occurs - and our star burns with its even, dazzling flame.
The synthesis of deuterons is only the first step of solar thermonuclear transformations. The newborn deuteron very soon (on average after 5.7 seconds) combines with another proton. A light helium nucleus and a gamma ray appear electromagnetic radiation. 5.48 MeV of energy is released.
Finally, on average, once every million years, two light helium nuclei can converge and combine. Then a nucleus of ordinary helium (alpha particle) is formed and two protons are split off. 12.85 MeV of energy is released.
This three-stage<конвейер>thermonuclear reactions are not the only one. There is another chain of nuclear transformations, faster ones. The atomic nuclei of carbon and nitrogen participate in it (without being consumed). But in both options, alpha particles are synthesized from hydrogen nuclei. Figuratively speaking, the hydrogen plasma of the Sun<сгорает>, turning into<золу>- helium plasma. And during the synthesis of each gram of helium plasma, 175 thousand kWh of energy is released. Great amount!
Every second the Sun emits 4,1033 ergs of energy, losing 4,1012 g (4 million tons) of matter in weight. But the total mass of the Sun is 2,1027 tons. This means that in a million years, thanks to radiation, the Sun<худеет>only one ten-millionth of its mass. These figures eloquently illustrate the effectiveness of thermonuclear reactions and the gigantic calorific value of solar energy.<горючего>- hydrogen.
Thermonuclear fusion is apparently the main source of energy for all stars. At different temperatures and densities of stellar interiors, different types of reactions occur. In particular, solar<зола>-helium nuclei - at 100 million degrees it itself becomes thermonuclear<горючим>. Then even heavier atomic nuclei - carbon and even oxygen - can be synthesized from alpha particles.
According to many scientists, our entire Metagalaxy as a whole is also the fruit of thermonuclear fusion, which took place at a temperature of a billion degrees (see Art.<Вселенная вчера, сегодня и завтра>).
Extraordinary calorific value of thermonuclear<горючего>prompted scientists to achieve artificial implementation of nuclear fusion reactions.
<Горючего>- There are many hydrogen isotopes on our planet. For example, the superheavy hydrogen tritium can be produced from the metal lithium in nuclear reactors. And heavy hydrogen - deuterium is part of heavy water, which can be extracted from ordinary water.
Heavy hydrogen extracted from two glasses of ordinary water would provide as much energy in a thermonuclear reactor as is currently produced by burning a barrel of premium gasoline.
The difficulty is to preheat<горючее>to temperatures at which it can ignite with powerful thermonuclear fire.
This problem was first solved in the hydrogen bomb. Hydrogen isotopes there are ignited by explosion atomic bomb, which is accompanied by heating of the substance to many tens of millions of degrees. In one version of the hydrogen bomb, the thermonuclear fuel is a chemical compound of heavy hydrogen with light lithium - light lithium deuteride. This white powder, similar to table salt,<воспламеняясь>from<спички>, which is an atomic bomb, instantly explodes and creates a temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees.
To initiate a peaceful thermonuclear reaction, one must first learn how to heat small doses of a sufficiently dense plasma of hydrogen isotopes to temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees without the services of an atomic bomb. This problem is one of the most difficult in modern applied physics. Scientists around the world have been working on it for many years.
We have already said that it is the chaotic movement of particles that creates the heating of bodies, and the average energy of their random movement corresponds to the temperature. To heat a cold body means to create this disorder in any way.
Imagine two groups of runners rushing towards each other. So they collided, got mixed up, a crush and confusion began. Great mess!
In much the same way, physicists initially tried to obtain high temperatures - by colliding high-pressure gas jets. The gas heated up to 10 thousand degrees. At one time this was a record: the temperature was higher than on the surface of the Sun.
But with this method, further, rather slow, non-explosive heating of the gas is impossible, since the thermal disorder instantly spreads in all directions, warming the walls of the experimental chamber and the environment. The resulting heat quickly leaves the system, and it is impossible to isolate it.
If gas jets are replaced by plasma flows, the problem of thermal insulation remains very difficult, but there is also hope for its solution.
True, plasma cannot be protected from heat loss by vessels made of even the most refractory substance. In contact with solid walls, hot plasma immediately cools down. But you can try to hold and heat the plasma by creating its accumulation in a vacuum so that it does not touch the walls of the chamber, but hangs in emptiness, not touching anything. Here we should take advantage of the fact that plasma particles are not neutral, like gas atoms, but electrically charged. Therefore, when moving, they are exposed to magnetic forces. The task arises: to create a magnetic field of a special configuration in which hot plasma would hang as if in a bag with invisible walls.
The simplest form This type of energy is created automatically when strong pulses are passed through the plasma electric current. In this case, magnetic forces are induced around the plasma cord, which tend to compress the cord. The plasma is separated from the walls of the discharge tube, and at the axis of the cord in the crush of particles the temperature rises to 2 million degrees.
In our country, such experiments were performed back in 1950 under the leadership of academicians JI. A. Artsimovich and M. A. Leontovich.
Another direction of experiments is the use of a magnetic bottle, proposed in 1952 by the Soviet physicist G.I. Budker, now an academician. The magnetic bottle is placed in a cork chamber - a cylindrical vacuum chamber equipped with an external winding, which is condensed at the ends of the chamber. The current flowing through the winding creates a magnetic field in the chamber. Its field lines in the middle part are located parallel to the generatrices of the cylinder, and at the ends they are compressed and form magnetic plugs. Plasma particles injected into a magnetic bottle curl around the field lines and are reflected from the plugs. As a result, the plasma is retained inside the bottle for some time. If the energy of the plasma particles introduced into the bottle is high enough and there are a lot of them, they enter into complex force interactions, their initially ordered movement becomes confused, becomes disordered - the temperature of the hydrogen nuclei rises to tens of millions of degrees.
Additional heating is achieved by electromagnetic<ударами>by plasma, compression of the magnetic field, etc. Now the plasma of heavy hydrogen nuclei is heated to hundreds of millions of degrees. True, this can be done either by a short time, or at low plasma density.
To initiate a self-sustaining reaction, the temperature and density of the plasma must be further increased. This is difficult to achieve. However, the problem, as scientists are convinced, is undoubtedly solvable.
G.B. Anfilov
Posting photographs and citing articles from our website on other resources is permitted provided that a link to the source and photographs is provided.