Shorts Artificial Sun vs The Real Sun: Which Is Hotter?
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Korea built a machine hotter than the Sun's core. But which one really wins?
KSTAR, Korea's "artificial sun", held a 100-million-°C plasma for 48 seconds (2024 record). The Sun's core is about 15 million °C, so that's almost 7x hotter. The Sun, though, has been burning for 4.6 billion years.
Why does a fusion reactor have to be hotter than the Sun? The Sun squeezes its core with enormous gravity. On Earth we can't, so we turn up the heat instead.
KSTAR, Korea's "artificial sun", held a 100-million-°C plasma for 48 seconds (2024 record). The Sun's core is about 15 million °C, so that's almost 7x hotter. The Sun, though, has been burning for 4.6 billion years.
Why does a fusion reactor have to be hotter than the Sun? The Sun squeezes its core with enormous gravity. On Earth we can't, so we turn up the heat instead.