Canadian Researchers Create Supernova In-lab

Erebus42 writes "Canada has done something neat. Apparently researchers at the University of British Columbia have created supernova in their ISAC (Isotope Seperator and Accelerator), transmuting sodium 21 into magnesium 22. Spiffy."

Re:Science for Sciences Sake?

[vinnythenose]

The idea is that by recreating a supernova we can possibly see how the universe was formed. The theory I believe suggests that the big bang was essentially a really large supernova. It said this in the article (although I've been known for not reading every single little word, sort of like in Army of Darkness)

Canadian Researchers Create Supernova In-lab

[Renraku]

..Canadian shield proves ineffective.

Interesting how "journalists" get it wrong

[T-Punkt]

If you go through the quotes you will notice that the scientiest never said they created "a supernova". For some reasons - saying so is really stupid, a supernova is something million times brighter than a star (more precise: around 10^10 times as bright as our sun). Even if our sun goes up in a nova it won't even come close to that - how do you want to build that in a lab?

Re:Alchemy?

[bourne]

If I read the article right, it decomposed back into sodium(22). We can create lots of elements with super science gadgets, but none that I've heard of are stable.

However, I have to wonder what would happen to radioactive waste that was modified this way. We've got to figure out some way to make that stuff less dangerous, at least until we can create black holes to dump it into.

Article is misleading

[LMCBoy]

It's a huge stretch to say this is the first man-made supernova. Maybe it's the first man-made r-process nuclear reaction, but that's a far cry from a supernova. The reaction they've reproduced involves trace elements, not the iron/nickel that are really important in a SN.

Basically, a SN happens when a massive star has converted all of its core fuel into iron by nuclear fusion. The star's gravity compresses and heats the iron until it can fuse also. However, iron is the most tightly bound element, so fusing iron nuclei doesn't release heat energy, it removes it. The thermal pressure that was holding up the star's core disappears in a fraction of a second, and the whole thing comes crashing down in a huge implosion. The implosion causes the core material to form a neutron star or a black hole, and the rebounding shock wave blows the rest of the star apart.

Doesn't sound much like what they did. I don't mean to downplay their achievement; it's still very impressive. I'm just lamenting the sorry state of most science reporting...

Breakthrough

[quantaman]

By the way there is a slight inaccuracy in the post.

the sodium 21 was transmuted into magnesium 22, which decays into the radioactive isotope sodium 22

as opposed to remaining as magnesium 22. That being said this is still a huge breakthough. With the exception of hydrogren and helium all the elements in the universe are believe to have been formed in Novas or Supernovas. These researchers now has the ability to observe this process directly. Up till now all our knowledge on the subject in based on theories based observations of distant (super)Nova. Who knows the possible extensions of this technology? Transmutation of elements? Fission reactors? Not to mention the huge betterment of our understanding of these processes which will undoubtedly lead to new fields of research which may lead to other breakthroughs in themselves.

Real information from TRIUMF

[jstott]

Since the newpaper writer clearly hasn't a clue what he's talking about, I ran over to the TRIUMF webpage for the actual story. Here's what they have to say in the "News" section:

TRIUMF SUCCESSFULLY ACCELERATES RADIOACTIVE EXOTIC ION BEAMS

Research with radioactive exotic ions is recognized worldwide as an exciting new frontier in physical science. ISAC, one of the world's first facilities specifically dedicated to the production and acceleration of such exotic ions, has been developed and constructed at TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. Low energy exotic beams were first produced in 1999 and during the past summer the exotic ion 8Li was the first beam to be successfully accelerated to high energy (~1.5 MeV/A). On the 5th of October an accelerated beam of 21Na (a radioactive isotope of sodium) was produced (at a preliminary intensity of about 4x108 particles per second on target) and experiments with this beam are producing the first data concerning nuclear processing of sodium in stellar explosions.

For the future, there are plans to accelerate a whole variety of exotic isotopes that will be used to address a wide range of research areas.

So, to sum up, they've got their isotope accellerator up and working to the point where they can do some very nice experiments on high-energy nuclear processes, including a number that are important in stellar explosions. No supernova though.

-JS

Re:Black Holes?

[Bonker]

but aren't supernovas the cause of black holes?

Not necessarily. The immense amount of forces that are involved in a supernova create conditions that allow black holes to form. All you really need for a black hole is enough heavy matter in small enough space.

It's like this... When planets and even small stars form, the electromagnetic force is enough to keep individual atoms from crushing each other. You can't push electrons any closer.

Stars who die without becoming any bigger become white, and eventually black dwarfs.

In larger stars, after they ignite, the nuclear force-- the constant fusion reaction-- is enough to do the same thing. Once that fusion reaction shuts down, however, the atoms begin to collapse, increasing density and pressure until the heavier atoms are able to fuse.

If a star this size goes nova, the electrons and protons collapse, leaving neutrons. The neutron matter will hold up to a certain point under the force of gravity. AP's correct me, but I think it's the electroweak force that is responisble for this resistance.

If a star dies at this stage, you get a neutron star.

If a star is very, very massive... Think blue giants... Even the force that keeps the neutrons from crushing eachother is not enough to overcome the force of gravity. The neutrons collapse under their own weight into an infinitly small point and the space around the singularity warps until the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light.

I'm certain what we all know that singularity + event horizon = black hole.

Despite the fact that the researchers were creating the same kinds of reaction that occurs in the latter period of the death of a star, they simply weren't dealing with the kind of mass necessarly to create a black hole. Even if scientists *did* manage to create enough pressure to force matter to collapse into a singularity, it would evaporate away into Hawking radiation almost instantly. You don't just need the singularity to keep a black hole, you need to have it be massive and keep feeding it to keep it alive.

Re:Wait a sec

[mmontour]

If this decays into radioactive sodium, how long does it last? Are we talking standard half life stuff, or is this "magnesium" only magnesium for a very very short period of time?

The CRC handbook lists the following half-lives:

Na21 22.5s
Mg22 3.86s
Na22 2.605y