Accelerators for Society

Superheroes and particle physics: the dynamic duo   

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From Symmetry Magazine, 25 March 2014

Iron Man 2, the second installment in the Iron Man movie franchise, finds the hero Tony Stark in a bit of a pickle: The “arc reactor” in Stark’s chest (which generates magnetic fields to halt the movement of shrapnel in his body) is powered by palladium, which is slowly poisoning him. Stark must find a different material to run the reactor if he hopes to survive. But the only non-toxic element that will work is one that does not exist on Earth. A brilliant engineer and scientist, Stark builds a small cyclotron and uses it to create the new element he needs.

In the magic world of movies, Stark builds his cyclotron in about a day, whereas real cyclotrons usually take months or years to come together. But the story is built on at least one scientifically accurate fact: It is true that particle accelerators can be used to create “new” elements—those that aren’t found in nature. It’s a wonder Stark didn’t just put on his Iron Man suit and fly to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where scientists have already been involved in the creation of new elements 113, 114, 115, 116, 117 and 118. Read more >>

 

See also in this website:

Particle accelerators in various shapes and sizes (including the cyclotron)

Accelerators for Isotope Production

 

 

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/ ...

ctanguy, 2014-03-25 00:00:00
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