19 million Amps

deblau writes "On July 27, scientists at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Nevada Test Site said they generated a current equal to about four times all the electrical current on Earth. During the few millionths of a second that it operated, the 650-ton Atlas pulsed-power generator discharged about 19 million amps of current through an aluminum cylindrical shell about the size of a tuna can. Official news release is available from the DOE (PDF)."

Comments

Elsewhere in the news:

[TripMaster Monkey]

In operation, the 650-node Slashdot news-for-nerds generator successfully discharged nearly 19 million hits of HTTP requests through the NNSA Nevada Site Office News webpage, or PDF, on a server about the size and shape of a tuna can. The requests caused the server to implode at extreme speeds, with unrivaled symmetry, precision, and reproducibility.

Math

[dsginter]

I did the math for everyone... it works out to One point twenty one jiga-watts, Marty!

Hmm...

[leshert]

On July 27, scientists at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Nevada Test Site said they generated a current equal to about four times all the electrical power on Earth.

Where did they do this experiment--Mars?

11?

[ryanvm]

I'll bet this amp goes to 11.

Re:so that's what it was

[interiot]

As if a million tuna cans cried out, and then were silenced?

Re:Power Calculation

[Anonymous Coward]

I also forgot some decimal places in my previous equation

You work for NASA, right?