Posted on 05/09/2013 8:57:56 PM PDT by Daffynition
BROOKHAVEN, N.Y., May 9 (UPI) -- U.S. physicists say they're planning a new experiment in particle physics -- but first there's the small matter of moving a 50-foot-diameter magnet 3,200 miles.
Along with colleagues from 26 institutions around the world, they are planning an experiment to study the properties of muons, tiny subatomic particles that exist for only 2.2 millionths of a second.
But first the core of the experimental equipment, a complex electromagnet 50 feet in diameter, needs to be moved from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York to the department's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois.
The magnet, made of steel and aluminum with superconducting cable inside, is the core of an experimental machine built at Brookhaven in the 1990s that will be the centerpiece of the Fermi experiment.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/05/09/Giant-50-foot-magnet-to-make-cross-country-trek-for-physics-experiment/UPI-14361368127258/#ixzz2SrHvFlU9
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
TYVM
Another site claims it : **Can’t be done. Magnets like this cannot be disassembled, for many many reasons. First and foremost, you cannot splice the conductor that makes up the coil, as it simply will not work after you do that. Even unwinding the cable that makes up the coils isn’t possible as it would damage the conductor. Superconductors are something else entirely in how you have to treat them, and how fragile they are.**
That's not me. I don't have a hard-hat.
Oh... wait..
/johnny
I’ve been trying to figure out why we should care about Muons.
And if this is like borrowing your neighbor’s ladder...and he expects it returned when you are done with it.
‘muons ... that exist for 2.2 millionths of a second”
That’s my attention span—hey look, a squirrel!
Who said anything about disassembly?
The morons (isn't that a subatomic particle?) could have shipped all of the basic components to a location within easy reach of the installation site, and assembled them there, making final shipment a MUCH easier, and less costly exercise.
Now where's my gubmint grant money??
Even if it is off, there will be residual magnetism; by my calculations, it will have collected enough iron filings and burrs as it passes through the industrial areas of Ohio that it will weigh over 1.7x10 8 tons by the time it hits the Indiana border. It will then sink into the Earth and disappear.
Check your tagline. You’ve got a runaway question mark in there.
Or is that a muon....
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Giant 50-foot magnet to make cross-country trek for physics experiment , ThomasThomas wrote:
Houston, Close, Florida to Mississippi then north. I would have thought north up the st. Lawrence seaway to Chicago.
When I read this I immediately thought of the seaway which would work. Fermi labs is located in the northern suburbs and that while specialized could be off loaded perhaps at Milwaukee and transported from that point. Rather than being trucked cross country from New York.
Ouch, that’s gonna hurt, particularly if they’re facing the wrong way.
It’s funny how real scenery can look like the architectural models used to plan it.
I bet it didn’t qualify for free shipping. Even with Amazon Prime, I bet the shipping was outrageous.
“Why wouldnt they use a SKYCRANE to move it ?”
The Skycrane (Sikorsky S-64) can lift about 20,000 lbs.
The Sikorsky CH-53E has a sling load capacity of about 36,000.
The CH-47 Chinook has a payload of about 26,000 lbs.
The MIL-26 will lift about 20 tons (44,000 lbs) external cargo.
Judging by the number of axles on the model in the photo, this puppy weighs at least 200,000 lbs.
Heavy Sigh.
Love it. We have a Chocolate Lab and if we didn’t keep the magnets above her reach, she would at them too.
If you read the article, it mentions the point about the magnet costing10 times more to build / assemble on-site.
That's not precisely what the article said:
"It costs about 10 times less to move the magnet from Brookhaven to Illinois than it would to build a new one," said Lee Roberts of Boston University..."
My point is that it would cost even less to move the magnet if they did the final assembly after shipping the component parts closer to their final destination. It's the same process we used to build the space shuttles.
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