SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Since the first laser was invented in 1960, they've always given off heat -- either as a useful tool, a byproduct or a fictional way to vanquish intergalactic enemies.
But those concentrated beams of light have never been able to cool liquids. University of Washington researchers are the first to solve a decades-old puzzle -- figuring out how to make a laser refrigerate water and other liquids under real-world conditions.
In a study to be published the week of Nov. 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team used an infrared laser to cool water by about 36 degrees Fahrenheit -- a major breakthrough in the field.
"Typically, when you go to the movies and see Star Wars laser blasters, they heat things up. This is the first example of a laser beam that will refrigerate liquids like water under everyday conditions," said senior author Peter Pauzauskie, UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering. "It was really an open question as to whether this could be done because normally water warms when illuminated."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 18 2015, @01:13PM
So far that I know, cooling techniques use to drain heat from some area and then release that heat elsewhere + whatever excess heat produced in the process.
Would this laser be capable of cooling something, without at least equally heating something else? (It will ofcourse need energy, but can it reduce heat in a closed system?)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Covalent on Wednesday November 18 2015, @01:38PM
No.
https://vimeo.com/68401939 [vimeo.com]
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 2) by cykros on Wednesday November 18 2015, @01:57PM
In order to cool something without heating something else, you'd need to convert the heat into some other form of energy rather than simply putting it off as exhaust like conventional refrigerators do, what with the whole conservation of energy at play. I can't say I'm familiar with any method of cooling that does this, nor does it seem like a particularly easy problem to solve.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday November 18 2015, @03:31PM
Would this laser be capable of cooling something, without at least equally heating something else?
No, conservation of energy states that the energy you remove has got to go SOMEWHERE.
(Score: 3, Funny) by deadstick on Wednesday November 18 2015, @04:36PM
As long as the laser warms up, the Second Law is cool with it.
(Score: 2) by mrchew1982 on Wednesday November 18 2015, @08:44PM
No, that would violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics, entropy. When the molecules are filled they enter a more ordered state, the entropy being removed must be put somewhere, my guess would be heating of the laser module itself and the surrounding air...
Still very awesome to be able to control molecules like this with a laser beam.