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Build Your Own Cyclotron
mindpixel writes "Physics Today is running a story about Tim Koeth's 12 inch cyclotron. Here's a quote that says it all: 'I was sitting in Tom Devlin's modern physics lecture. He described the principle of the cyclotron. He said it required a lot of RF power. I was--and am--a ham radio operator, so RF was no problem. It needed a big magnet; I knew I could find one of those. How tough could a vacuum system and chamber be?'"
I've seen Battlestar Galactica. First you build one, then it tries to kill you!
Yeah, because you've got better things to do... like post on Slashdot.
an Orgasmotron?
/.'ers especially could make use of that technology.
Any Dennis Miller Referentially-Challenged types please see http://imdb.com/title/tt0070707/.
I see "12 inch" and "vacuum" in the same story.
/. posting spam now?
Is
I fucking hate ugly magnets because I still find them almost as attractive as the cute ones.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
I too was a mild-mannered scientist, until I was hit with an accidental dose of Gamma Rays and turned in The Incredible Hulk ... so Tim should be careful.
I have only one question.... can I cook my eggs in the morning with it ?
The recipe is:
1. A bunch of RF (is that the metric or English "bunch"?).
2. A large magnet (mine sez Acme, is that okay?)
3. A vacuum system... Well I know of a woman who can suck chrome, so I guess that would be good enough.
4. A chamber.... Okay yah got me stumped here sparky. Is a Altoids tin good enough?
Hmmmm.... Or how about my ol' microwave oven? (2/4 requirements)...
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
That's a great junior high experiment. As an adult, however, you learn that you can make a cloud chamber using only the alcohol.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I think that would require you to build a 12-inch device of a different nature.
Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.
</Venkman>
Just seemed appropriate...
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
1 MeV... 1 Million electron volts
Zzzzzz
The 1961 Bevatron was something like 6.5 Billion electron volts.
What next, the guys build their own crystal radio?
Miles Monroe: Perform sex? Uh, uh, I don't think I'm up to a performance, but I'll rehearse with you, if you like.
Luna Schlosser: Okay. I just thought you might want to; they have a machine here.
Miles Monroe: Machine? I'm not getting into that thing. I, I'm strictly a hand operator; you know, I, I... I don't like anything with moving parts that are not my own.
As if men weren't already at a high enough risk of RSI.
Now those in DC will try to get /. banned because this is an evil, scary device that terrorists might use for SOMETHING... ;->
...when most cyclotrons are only around 5.5 inches.
Centuries ago I was doing a thesis project at an Air Force lab, and was measuring some pressures with a mercury manometer about six feet high, made of 1/4 inch ID tubing. If I had ever blown that thing, there would have been a couple of pounds of mercury skittering around on the concrete.
Then a safety inspector came in and told me I had to put an overflow bottle on the manometer. So I did -- I taped a 2-ounce bottle to the top, connected it with a piece of Tygon, and the guy was happy.
rj
1. Build Cyclotron
2. ???
3. Profit!
Man do I feel stupid... when I was in college, I just sat around trying to figure out where to get beer and/or get laid. Of course most times I would have had as much success in building the cyclotron.
Duh. All they need to do it tweak the modulation of the dilithium intercharger and it should increase their power output to within 6 megajoules of the optimum phase dispersion. Jeez, they teach this stuff in Basic Warp Drive Physics 101 at the Academy...
when my dad was in highschool he and his brother snuck into the chem lab and ended up dumping a jar of Hg all over the floor.
Frank Zappa's father worked as a meteorologist at a military arsenal and used to come home with mercury for the kids. His autobiography talks about it: "One of the things I used to like to do was pour the mercury on the floor and hit it with a hammer, so it squirted all over the place. I lived in mercury."
My father never brought home so much as a blob. I might have been a rock star by now. Gee, thanks Dad.