World's fastest water heater--100,000 degrees in under a 10th of a picosecond

Scientists have used a powerful X-ray laser to heat water from room temperature to 100,000 degrees Celsius in less than a 10th of a picosecond (millionth of a millionth of a second). The experimental setup, which can be seen as the world's fastest water heater, produced an exotic state of water from which researchers hope to learn more about the peculiar characteristics of water. The observations also have practical use for the probing biological and many other samples with X-ray lasers. The tea...