@pearshapes i don't know what a watt is

@pearshapes i know it's an electricity word

@monorail maybe! it might be like, an entire laser assembly deep in there that then gets scattered.

for scale comparison, the average incandescent bulb with a tungsten filament uses anywhere from 30 to 80 watts

@monorail a megawatt is a million watts

@pearshapes maybe they made the button out of something opaque but the light is just that bright

@monorail oh yeah like it glows through the material? that makes sense
i suppose if you did produce that much light you could make anything translucent

@pearshapes they got the material but cave johnson said "i want it to glow!"

"we'll have to get them to recreate the--"

"no time for that, make it work"

@monorail i like this explanation bc it also implies that they haven't changed the material for several decades. maybe they ordered it in bulk and just havent run out

@pearshapes "the bean counters wanted approval to update the button design. fired every last one of them. if these buttons were good enough for the olympians of yesterday, they're more than good enough for... you."

@pearshapes @monorail This is Aperture Science we are talking about, it would not be surprising to learn tjat the button, when pressed, engages a machine to breach the barrier between dimensions and ignite the lumiferous aether, creating the light we see. Doing so takes a lot of power, most of which is used to contain the aether from generating something like a small nuclear explosion. Aperture Science would like to remind every test subjects not to open the housing, there are no user servicable parts inside!

@errant @pearshapes please move quickly through the chamber lock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the button are not part of this test