National Laboratories

On March 8 we flew to San Francisco for the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conference.  But first, we took a field trip to the Lawrence Livermore National Ignition Facility.  Security is very tight and we were not allowed to take any pictures.  The science that is being done there is amazing and almost looks like science fiction at times.  I was exhausted by the end of the day with trying to gain some kind of understanding of the science that is so beyond my understanding.

NIF is the world's largest and highest-energy laser system.  Its goal is to ignite a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction and produce net energy gain -- the same fusion energy process that makes the stars shine and provides the life-giving energy of the sun.

The scientists that work there are very optimistic that fusion energy is very close to being a reality!

We also visited the Lawrence Berkley Laboratory.  Because they do not do research with nuclear weapons, they let us take as many pictures as we wanted.

Again, the science was beyond my understanding.  They do "bend" light beams into a very large circular course that intensifies it and then conducts experiments.

We did smile when among all of the very high tech equipment, we saw the widespread use of "aluminum foil".