What would an oven that could withstand 28000 degrees have to be made of?

Question

I want to harness a lightning strike and retain it's energy for release thereafter. How would a collector oven need to be constructed so as not to melt and retain the heat energy to be released in a boiler to run a generator?

Answer 1

The air that a lightning strike passes through may heat up to 28000 degrees temporarily, but you won't get that high a temperature in a useful material.  As somebody else said, the material would be vaporized anyway, along with whatever you tried to put it in.  Also, the temperature would decrease very rapidly.  It would be more practical to heat something with more thermal mass to a few hundred degrees and insulate it so that it would cool off very slowly.

Is this something you actually plan to build?  If so, how do you plan to get lightning strikes when you need them?  Unless you are in an area that gets lightning storms every day, it doesn't sound very practical.

Answer 2

You are talking of much higher temperatures ,if it is the lightning strike you want to harness.

The only solution is Nanoscale Titanium. Such Titanium nanoscale structures are difficult to form and are terribily expensive even if produced. Also Titanium is extremely non-reactive ,which is advantageous but at the same time makes it's nanoscale sructure difficult to form.

But on the whole I have no doubt that ,Nanotechnology is the only answer to this problem.

Answer 3

Iron or Ceramic perhaps?

Answer 4

Well a plasma can be contained by a magnetic field, but it will cool rapidly by radiation.

At 28000 degrees (in any scale) you are well above the vaporizing point of anything at atmospheric pressure.