The Z machine is the world’s largest X-ray generator.

For a few billionths of a second the Z machine uses 80 times the entire world’s electrical power output. The incredibly high voltage electromagnetic pulse this creates induces an electrical current in all the metallic objects in the room, creating the sparks in the photograph above.

The Z machine is used to study nuclear fusion and recently created a plasma with a temperature of more than 2 billion degrees celsius, hotter than the interior of the Sun.