New Accelerator Technique Doubles Particle Energy

ZonkerWilliam writes "Plasma wake particle accelerators are making surprisingly quick advances. It was a just a little while ago we had GeV acceleration in 3cm. Now they are capable of doubling the energy of electrons. 'Imagine a car that accelerates from zero to sixty in 250 feet, and then rockets to 120 miles per hour in just one more inch. That's essentially what a collaboration of accelerator physicists has accomplished, using electrons for their race cars and plasma for the afterburners. Because electrons already travel at near light's speed in an accelerator, the physicists actually doubled the energy of the electrons, not their speed.'"

Comments

We're all going to die!

[BagMan2]

One of these days those crazy scientists are going to do something and we will all just disappear into a mass of energy.

Re:We're all going to die!

[General Fault]

Hows the old saying go?
"With the bomb squad, you can usually stop running after the first couple of blocks. If it involves the physics department, keep going."

or perhaps

"We're pleased to announce we are still here to report the results."

Cue people who pretend they understand the science

[CRCulver]

in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

innerspace

[President_Camacho]

That's essentially what a collaboration of accelerator physicists has accomplished, using electrons for their race cars and plasma for the afterburners.

Those sound like really small physicists.

Re:innerspace

[Dachannien]

using electrons for their race cars and plasma for the afterburners

And their wives still say they're compensating.

Don't Knock It!

[StefanJ]

I jammed a butter knife into a 220v circuit when I was a toddler and became a diembodied electromagnetic life-force with super powers.

Other than a morbid fear of lightning rods and antistatic wrist-straps, it pretty much rocks.

For the Americans here

[lelitsch]

They increased the mass of the electrons by 1.65064935 × 10-27 hundredweight in 0.00032808399 football fields. Sorry, I don't know how much that is in SUVs.

Seriously, though, this is a neat trick. (Yes, IAAP)

Re:E=1/2 m v^2

[UbuntuDupe]

I didn't know 60 mph was close to c. Maybe for large values of 60? ;-)

Re:Obligatory Response

[It'sYerMam]

Besides, only engineers use decimal measurements, everyone else uses fractions.

Unless you're irrational, that is.