Lightning Research Sparks New Discovery
Science Daily
UPI
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Melbourne, Florida (US):
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."
Nov 02, 2005
Science Daily
UPI
___
Melbourne, Florida (US):
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."
Nov 02, 2005
