Engines Hotter Than the Sun: The Microscopic Machines Redefining Thermodynamics

When most people think of engines, they picture pistons, turbines, or rockets roaring with fire. But the next revolution in engines is happening at a scale so small it’s invisible to the human eye. A team of researchers at King’s College London has just built the hottest engine in the world—not in a power plant or a jet, but in a vacuum chamber using a single glass bead smaller than a red blood cell. The effective temperature of this microscopic engine? Sixteen million kelvin, rivaling the core of the Sun.

Continue reading… “Engines Hotter Than the Sun: The Microscopic Machines Redefining Thermodynamics”