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http://www.sns.gov/ The Spallation Neutron Source is an accelerator-based neutron source in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. At full power, the SNS will provide the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. Completed in May 2006, SNS is ramping up to its full-power capability of 1.4 MW. Initial users are expected in fall 2006.

"The necessary research must be completed, four to five years, at (a cost of) five to six million dollars per annum here at UB," Sarjeant said.

Check out the USA's flagship neutron scattering facility, which will churn out hundreds of scientific papers per year and put the USA at the front of materials science, on real science at the atomic scale (not inches, Sarjeant) and consider that 30 million dollars would kit them out with a whole suite of instruments for the entire scientific community to use (based on the quality of the proposals, of course). Sarjeant, you're a complete... no, I can't even be bothered to say it...

They actually even let you go visit the first two. The last three being failed experiments that are still a bit too hot for the everyday public. Kind of blew my mind when I first read about them. Just google for each with the prefix "oak ridge".

As a physicist though, the most interesting experiment there is the new Spallation Neutron Source http://www.sns.gov/ which is being finished (or is it done now I forget).

It's a "spallation" source, which means they bombard a heavy nucleus with something (protons in this case) to knock neutrons off. Details at their web site. It looks like the pulse actually contains a wide range of momenta, but since it's very brief (corresponding to the brief proton pulse that produced it) you know the momentum of any given neutron by when it arrives at the target/detector.

Using neutron beams scientists determined the structure of insulin, YBCO, and cell membrane structures. The SNS site has a page that discusses the importance here

From the facility's website:

http://www.sns.gov/aboutsns/benefits.htm

Hey cool, a friend of mine designed their Web site when he was working at Los Alamos. Small world.

I'd provide a link to his Web site but I doubt he feels like getting Slashdotted.

How does the earth replenishes its carbon 14 source (half-life of 5730 yrs)? Spallation. This is the reason for carbon dating can be "somewhat" constant and "more or less" reliable. (Assuming that the high energy particles are constant.)

This is a great topic to stump some of the more well educated scientists. N2 ----> 14CN.

http://www.sns.gov/aboutsns/what-why.htm

My question: does spallation work on Titan? I know that Saturn has an intense magnetic field, but I don't know if Saturn emits high energy particles. Can high energy particles from our sun can reach that far to influence Titan? I wonder if he factored this into his theory or not. The article does not explain this. I would figure that he would have to take this into account, if high energy particles are "abound." These particles can change most of the gases in the upper atmosphere to many different types of molecules. Using acetylene from methane as an example is very loaded. If there is enough energy to make this, why would acetylene not want to change into larger organic chains when exposed to this high energy or react with the next nearest neighbor molecules. Considering life is a major leap, however there is some chemistry (using high energy light/particles) that can do similar things.

As part of some research work I was doing for the Spallation Neutron Source (http://www.sns.gov/) here in Oak Ridge, I ran across a lot of information about the nature of liquid metal cooling systems. I will try and list them for you all: 1) Magnetically driven pumps are inefficient, on the order of about 1% total pump efficiency 2) Liquid Metals (especially Mercury) have cavitation problems with use traditional centrifugal pumps. 3) Liquid metals are not as terribly corrosive as you all have suggested. Mercury and GIT (a eutectic alloy of Gallium, Indium and Tin) will operate for a very long time in Stainless steel. 5) A GIT alloy is probably the best bet for a design utilizing a liquid metal. If it were to be allowed to come in contact with the chip (I.E. reduced overall thermal resistance) it would form an oxide layer with excellent heat transfer capabilities. I would Love to see some people do some research into this problem as it seems to me to be very interesting. I am in the middle to using GIT to enhance the function of a sensor I am working on and already it has yielded heat transfer far superior to any type of ceramic or oxide mixture.

muon-catalyzed fusion would only viably occur in a particle accelerator setup, which I already mentioned (where else are you getting the muons from). In any case (as far as I know) no such thing is actually used today at neutron facilities.

For examples of neutron-beamline research facilities that exist today, I refer you to NIST [nist.gov], HMI [www.hmi.de], and the Spallation Neutron Source [sns.gov] (still being built).

It is commonly available as a neutron source.

Can you provide me references on that, please? I use neutron sources in my research, and I'm not aware of a Fusor setup being used at any real neutron beamlines around the world. They are all either particle accelerators that produce neutrons via spallation (such as the upcoming Spallation Neutron Source), or are radiological/nuclear reactors (such as NIST, HMI, etc.). Despite the simplicity of the Fusor, it is not actually used as a neutron source by anyone. As far as I know, the flux is much too low and the system not efficient.

muon-catalyzed fusion would only viably occur in a particle accelerator setup, which I already mentioned (where else are you getting the muons from). In any case (as far as I know) no such thing is actually used today at neutron facilities.

For examples of neutron-beamline research facilities that exist today, I refer you to NIST, HMI, and the Spallation Neutron Source (still being built).

The what and why of the SNS

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