AndrewD[HoMe Moderator]
12829
Synchrotron (TO warning: horological content, sort of) …
The Australian Synchrotron held an open day recently and I went along to have a look. The Synchrotron uses electromagnets to accelerate electrons up to near the speed of light and uses the released ‘light’ for various medical, scientific and industrial applications.
I was a little nervous wearing a mechanical watch into such an environment. I considered the IWC Mark XV; not an Ingenieur, but still protected by a Faraday cage. However, in the end I chickened out and borrowed my 7-year-old’s Swatch (and covered it with a jumper, as you never know who might see you, LOL).
Andrew
Experiments ...
By: AndrewD : November 3rd, 2009-00:11
The Synchrotron uses an electron gun to generate electrons that are passed through a linear accelerator and a booster ring to achieve 99.98% of the speed of light (first picture). These electrons release an intense radiation called ‘synchrotron light’ tha...
Very interesting!
By: patrick_y : November 4th, 2009-12:51
The Behavior of particle physics is certainly a very interesting topic that can answer many questions; the birth of the universe, the equation of time, special atomic properties, etc. In Northern California, Stanford University runs SLAC National Accelera...
The ultimate chronograph?
By: AndrewD : November 4th, 2009-13:54
Hi Patrick, Thanks for the interesting information about the SLAC and its role in particle physics. The Synchrotron was set up primarily for industrial and medical research applications. There is a lot of materials research that goes on and various groups...
The ultimate indeed...
By: patrick_y : November 4th, 2009-15:05
I am consistently amazed with the progress of technology that is achieved and I am consistently amazed that many of our PuristS members are from such interesting backgrounds. I'm not going to pretend I know any more about accelerators than I do, but I tha...