Fastest water heater offers liquid lessons

WASHINGTON - Swedish scientists used a powerful X-ray laser to heat water from room temperature to 100,000 C in less than one tenth of a picosecond (one trillionth of a second), creating the fastest water heater in the world.

The study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that the experiment will help researchers learn more about the peculiar characteristics of Earth's most important liquid.

The team led by Carl Caleman at Sweden's Uppsala University used the laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States to shoot extremely intense and ultrashort flashes of X-rays at a jet of water.