• OhmsLawn@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    That’s a silly title.

    The sun doesn’t produce a lot of energy because it is hot. The sun produces energy because it is big. All functional experimental fusion reactors operate at much higher temperatures than the sun.

    • Dagrothus@reddthat.com
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      7 months ago

      It’s a straight up factually incorrect title. Heat is a measure of energy. The sun produces 3.9e26 joules of heat per second. So no, they did not surpass the heat of the sun.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        7 months ago

        Nah, that’s a nitpick. In common English heat is just presence of high temperatures, and there’s no specific word for thermal energy.

        Also, that would be heat/time, so power basically. The sum of all heat currently in the sun would be larger, considering how slow the convection is among other things.

        • Dagrothus@reddthat.com
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          7 months ago

          We’re talking about energy generation, so the distinction is pretty important. I think a layperson can understand that it takes far more heat to boil a pot of water than a match can produce, even if the match is at a higher temperature than the stove top.

          A layperson would describe the heat of a campfire as being much higher than the heat of a candle, even if theyre the same temperature.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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            7 months ago

            Yeah, I guess that’s fair. They’re definitely talking about temperature, and I think most would understand it that way, because the layman might not even know the connection between higher temperatures and better heat engines, but economically speaking it’s not super relevant. The actual power output is probably negligible; it’s a research machine.

      • chetradley@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Heat in terms of temperature is a measure of molecular kinetic energy, so you can say two things are the same temperature regardless of the total energy of the system, which is a function of the change in temperature, mass and specific heat of a substance.

  • gaael@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    How many billionaires can be put inside at the same time? Asking for no reason.