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Attack of the Killer Electrons

Posted by Soulskill on from the blame-the-esa-for-the-title dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "At the peak of a magnetic storm, the number of highly energetic 'killer electrons' strong enough to damage electronics and human tissue can increase by a factor of more than ten times, posing a danger to spacecraft, satellites, and astronauts. Killer electrons can penetrate satellite shielding, so if electrical discharges take place in vital components, a satellite can be damaged or even rendered inoperable. For many years, the mechanism by which killer electrons are produced has remained poorly understood, in spite of physicists' attempts at solving this puzzle. Now the ESA reports that data shows the increase in the creation of a substantial number of killer electrons is due to a two-step process. First, the initial acceleration is due to the strong shock-related magnetic field compression. Immediately after the impact of the interplanetary shock wave, Earth's magnetic field lines began wobbling at ultra low frequencies. In turn, these ULF waves effectively accelerate the seed electrons (provided by the first step) to become killer electrons. 'These new findings help us to improve the models predicting the radiation environment in which satellites and astronauts operate. With solar activity now ramping up, we expect more of these shocks to impact our magnetosphere over the months and years to come,' says Philippe Escoubet, ESA's Cluster mission manager."

81 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Oh yeah? by trurl7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Were you also implying that everything down there is on the subatomic scale?

  2. All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Killer electrons. Geez, Just because ESA has to write to the level of a broad, uneducated audience, doesn't mean that Slashdot is that audience. Please write to the level of your audience.

    How about X-Rays, Roentgen Rays, Ionizing radiation, Accelerated electrons, etc.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
    1. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by pclminion · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Uh, "killer electrons" is the accepted scientific name for this phenomenon. Physicists sometimes use weird names for things. Deal with it.

    2. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Pojut · · Score: 2, Informative

      You mean like Strange matter? I honestly think they just aren't creative sometimes and just say "It's weird stuff, we can't think of a name for it, we're wasting time...let's just call it strange matter."

      --
      Living With a Nerd
    3. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by imsabbel · · Score: 1

      Well, first one to throw a stone...

      How many of your alternatives have nothing to do with that phenomenon?

      How do the two that might be used to descripe the phenomenon make a distinction towards all the normal electrons flying around in the interplanetary space (they move, so they are accelerated, and nearly anything out there is fast enough to be ionizing...)?

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    4. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by pclminion · · Score: 4, Informative

      You mean like Strange matter? I honestly think they just aren't creative sometimes and just say "It's weird stuff, we can't think of a name for it, we're wasting time...let's just call it strange matter."

      The term "strange matter" has a lot more history behind it than you make it sound. The origin of the term "strange" was in connection with mesons observed in cosmic ray data which, given our then-current understanding of QCD, had unusually long ("strange") lifetimes. Eventually it was discovered that the long-lifetime mesons contained quarks which had not been seen before. The quark was thus named the "strange" quark because it was one of the keys to understanding the strange mesons. Now, imagine a non-negligible assembly of matter consisting of mesons and baryons with strange quarks. This matter is called strange matter.

      Yes, the term "strange" was originally used because it was a "WTF?" kind of moment, but that happened a long time ago. Strange matter is perfectly well-understood.

    5. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Killers, shock, penetrations, human tissue...I guess they tried to attract moviegoers.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    6. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      The problem is that mundane electrons are quite lethal in a broad set of conditions. I think "highly-energetic electrons" or "superfast electrons" makes a heck of a lot more sense.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    7. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      How many of your alternatives have nothing to do with that phenomenon?

      Turn that around. How many electrons that don't have to do with that phenomenon are killer electrons? Quite a few. They come out of your electrical outlet. Just touch them the wrong way, and you won't be posting on Slashdot again.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    8. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      Don't talk to me about X-Rays. After 30 years and 500 comic strips I'm still waiting for my X-ray glasses!

    9. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Okay that all sounds pretty reasonable, but explain the What In The Name of Jeebus Is That Nebula, or the I Couldn't Even Begin To Explain What's Going On Here Quasar.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    10. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by blueg3 · · Score: 2, Informative

      How about X-Rays, Roentgen Rays, Ionizing radiation, Accelerated electrons, etc.

      How about them? X-Rays and Roentgen Rays refer to photons, not electrons (except, in English, Roentgen Rays is generally not used). Ionizing radiation is incredibly vague; it's more often used to refer to photons than electrons. Accelerated electrons at least gets the particle right, but is also far too general. A paper on "How are accelerated electrons produced?" could simply answer, "They're accelerated."

      Like it or not, "killer electrons" appears to be the preferred term for electrons produced in this manner, at least among some journal papers.

    11. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by dnahelicase · · Score: 1

      the slashdot audience is already well versed in the idea that these killer electron waves can cause all sorts of conditions, regardless of what you call them. I just hope that if it happens to me that I'll get a good super-power and not be a reject from society.

    12. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by idontgno · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's been a few (~ 3) years since I last worked with space weather types, but the technical term they tended to use for the phenomenon was "relativistic electron". That phrase gets the idea across that the electrons are bad because they're haulin' ass at significant fractions of lightspeed.

      Natural relativistic electron flux measurements and predictions are some of the most important forecast products of military space weather, just because astronauts and other "high fliers" could suffer health effects (like, die) from it. And also because the military has lots of sensitive orbital assets that can be ordered to shut down and harden themselves if their ground controllers can get enough advance warning.

      All of that said, I think that "killer electrons" is a good PR name for the phenomenon. Not even the hardest science is immune to the siren call of public relations, especially if funding and awards can be on the line.

      Sad.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    13. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Uhhh, except that X-rays are not electrons...

    14. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      How many electrons that don't have to do with that phenomenon are killer electrons? Quite a few. They come out of your electrical outlet. Just touch them the wrong way

      There's a right way? Would you care to demonstrate? PLease. pretty please.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    15. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by mea37 · · Score: 1

      No, you misunderstand; lethal has nothing to do with it.

      The name originated when two NASA scientists were studying data from a crippled satelite, and one said to the other "Duuuuude, those are some killer electrons!"

      Unless I'm lying to you.

    16. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by suomynonAyletamitlU · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think the people who named those worked at the Mt. God I'm So Drunk Observatory.

    17. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by moteyalpha · · Score: 1

      I believe that OP^2 is saying that it is pure gutter science for the masses and serves no scientific purpose. I am quite aware that ESD or CMEs or any number of other effects are deleterious to the function of electronic systems. It isn't living and so cannot be "killed". We had a joke in the labs years ago for noobs, that we were getting too many heavy electrons from the power company and that is why the design didn't work. It is true in relativistic terms that moving electrons would a more likely the problem in a circuit.
      If a quark does not absorb or reflect light, why would you use the term "color" as a label. I feel that quarks should be categorized by degree of smell, boolean, and repugnance, instead of charm, polarity, and color. For a science that deals with some of the most interesting and complex phenomenon, it seems strange they need to gluon vajazzles.

    18. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      The real truth is that the electron stream was intermittent in an unusual pattern, like this: .-- --- --- -

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    19. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by trapnest · · Score: 1

      Not quite the same thing, but: http://januszeal.strawberrycupcak.es/misc/photoshoplol.jpg

    20. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by dissy · · Score: 1

      Okay that all sounds pretty reasonable, but explain the What In The Name of Jeebus Is That Nebula, or the I Couldn't Even Begin To Explain What's Going On Here Quasar.

      Alcohol? Possibly some form of hallucinogenic?

    21. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by TrebleMaker · · Score: 2, Funny

      like this: .-- --- --- -
      --

      "wootm" ???

      --
      In Soviet Russia a beowulf cluster of these things imagines you welcoming your new, neural-network overlords.
    22. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      See, that's the trouble with putting switching information in-band.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    23. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      Right. Sorry. It's not an X-ray until it hits something. If I'm not mistaken, you get an X-ray photon when an accelerated electron hits certain materials, from knocking another electron, or bremsstrahlung.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    24. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by blueg3 · · Score: 1

      Killer electrons may be a subset of relativistic electrons (appearing in particular situations, as opposed to relativistic electrons encountered in other situations), but relativistic is a very good adjective, yes. :-)

    25. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by blueg3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes. I think at these energies they're concerned about the electrons more than the resulting X-rays, but decelerating electrons do generally produce X-rays as an entertaining side effect.

    26. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by khallow · · Score: 1

      I believe that OP^2 is saying that it is pure gutter science for the masses and serves no scientific purpose.

      Right. And their error was corrected.

      If a quark does not absorb or reflect light, why would you use the term "color" as a label.

      Because color is an apt analogy for the conserved charges (of which there happen to be three independent bases) of the strong force theory.

      I feel that quarks should be categorized by degree of smell, boolean, and repugnance, instead of charm, polarity, and color. For a science that deals with some of the most interesting and complex phenomenon, it seems strange they need to gluon vajazzles.

      That's why scientists name these things rather than you.

    27. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      A paper on "How are accelerated electrons produced?" could simply answer, "They're accelerated."

      How about: stars are cathodes and something around the star, like those big magnetic loops we see in a flare, are the anode.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    28. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by moteyalpha · · Score: 1

      Homeless electrons get excited and rape virgin satellites. Technically, electrons which are unbound to an atom are homeless by analogy. Satellites have never had sex and thus are virgins.
      There is nothing in a name except what communicates. There is still no murder victim and the perp is a [] beta- particle.
      A quark by any other name would still smell as sweet.
      It really makes no difference what they are called, and names that overload unrelated concepts in the same field seems like a "strange" leap to me. It has to do with charge and so it is called color. Perfectly logical.
      Etymology Gell-Mann originally named the quark after the sound made by ducks.
      I would have responded earlier, but Big Bang Theory was on, with Evil Wil Wheaton.

    29. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      *fap fap fap* Uhhh, witty!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    30. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by aquila.solo · · Score: 1

      a reject from society

      Call me cautious, but I'd be more worried about becoming a reject from the "still alive" bin.

    31. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by pclminion · · Score: 1

      It really makes no difference what they are called, and names that overload unrelated concepts in the same field seems like a "strange" leap to me. It has to do with charge and so it is called color. Perfectly logical.

      It IS perfectly logical, if you bother to actually understand the way the three color charges interact. If you mix red, green, and blue, you get white, which is the absence of color. If you mix red and anti-red, you get nothing, which is again, the absence of color. Look at the diagrams on Wikipedia if you need further elucidation.

      The color analogy is a wonderfully simple and apt way of explaining the reality of how color charge interacts and cancels out. We could have used directions, instead. In that case, it would have been "north," "south-east", and "south-west". A baryon with a combination of all three would have no "direction." A meson with a combination of north and south ("anti-north") would again have no "direction."

      Could we have used a directional analogy instead of a color analogy? Sure. It would have been equally explanatory. But color was chosen. The fact that you cannot see the purpose of the analogy is no reflection on the analogy but it does point out your own ignorance of the subject.

    32. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by moteyalpha · · Score: 1

      I enjoy discussing the subject and perhaps what you see as ignorance is merely a different perspective. I deal in all areas of science and names is a particularly irritating thing for me personally. If I were programming, I would not call the USB interface mouseDriver, for example. Lambda is also used as Lambda calculus. I am required to use German, French and Latin to relate things. Entegegen and Zusamen in biochemistry. It isn't necessary for me to have a car analogy, as I understand the underpinning of the nuclear process. My brother is a nuclear engineer and we discuss these things.
      Not so oddly, we have this same conflict. I rearrange things in hopes of finding new solutions and he finds that disturbing. It seems to help my creative process to tear down things once in awhile and put them back together. I suppose it is all relative or relativistic and that, I think, in this context, is a triple entendre.
      So there is no reason for you to be prompt critical of my perspective. And that has two meanings also.
      Life is like a box of chocolates, some have 2/3 charge and some have integer charges.
      Shakespeare has some interesting thoughts about fools and sometimes insight and inspiration come from the court jester.

    33. Re:All of My Electrons are Certified Organic by pclminion · · Score: 1

      ot so oddly, we have this same conflict. I rearrange things in hopes of finding new solutions and he finds that disturbing. It seems to help my creative process to tear down things once in awhile and put them back together. I suppose it is all relative or relativistic and that, I think, in this context, is a triple entendre.

      There is certainly nothing wrong with trying to find alternate, maybe even superior, ways of looking at something. My point is that the choice of the color analogy was not arbitrary. They could have named the three color charges Elephant, Dolphin, and Giraffe, but this wouldn't be of any help in understanding WHY the charges combine in the ways they do. The color analogy is not capricious. That isn't to say that the color charges couldn't have been described some other way -- the directional analogy I mentioned is another way it can be understood, with each color charge being a vector.

  3. Re:Oh yeah? by Pojut · · Score: 1

    Damn. GG to me I guess, lol.

    On a completely unrelated note...lol looks like a Tie Interceptor.

    --
    Living With a Nerd
  4. Killer Electrons by GMThomas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe if they wouldn't be so negative all the time, they wouldn't want to kill anyone.

    --
    You are now manually breathing.
    1. Re:Killer Electrons by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      I'm a Canadian Neutron, eh?

    2. Re:Killer Electrons by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I have found the "god particle". It is simply the anti-Killer Electron or life-giving positron.

    3. Re:Killer Electrons by sconeu · · Score: 1

      What make a Neutron turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or was it ust born with a heart full of neutrality?

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    4. Re:Killer Electrons by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Damn neutral extremists! There are left, and right, and neutral. Their commonality: They strongly stand by their views, even when wrong. (Only half joking.)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  5. Re:Oh yeah? by trurl7 · · Score: 1

    I kiiid, I kiiiid :)

  6. Tin-foil hats coming back in style? by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tin-foil hats, a bit of duct tape, don't forget to deposit sperm or ova before you go, and think of all the money you'll save by being able to glow in the dark ... even better than a CF bulb.

  7. Electrons? by natehoy · · Score: 1

    Didn't they do a movie about this a few years back? The electrons were all unusually large, and red, though. Seems to me they were almost, I dunno, tomato-shaped.

    I'm not Herman Farbage, so I'm not terribly concerned.

    --
    "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    1. Re:Electrons? by Migraineman · · Score: 1

      Where's Godzilla when you need him? He could dispatch your attacking killer electon-atoes without breaking a sweat.

  8. But, the big question is..... by SIR_Taco · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The big question is.... will tinfoil stop them?!?!

    --
    I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
    1. Re:But, the big question is..... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The big question is.... will tinfoil stop them?!?!

      Tinfoil will stop anything. The question is, "how thick does it need to be?"

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:But, the big question is..... by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      To a superfast electron, a tinfoil hat is 99% empty space. They'll just pass right through.

  9. I'm not worried! by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not worried! The positrons will save us!

    1. Re:I'm not worried! by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      I'm not worried about electrons, positrons, or even neutrons, for

      I. AM. MEGATRON!

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  10. Want to bet... by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

    Someone is now working on a killer electron death ray. That pisses me off because I'm still waiting for hand held blasters. And my Flying Car.

    Focus, Dammit!

    --
    You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  11. Faraday cage? by scorp1us · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't said electron be routed around astronauts if they are in a metallic space station, and what satellites have exposed circuitry? And how can electrons kill without current?

    --
    Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
    1. Re:Faraday cage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      A traveling electron IS a current...

    2. Re:Faraday cage? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Informative

      > And how can electrons kill without current?

      You can call them "high-energy beta particles" if it makes you more comfortable.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    3. Re:Faraday cage? by pclminion · · Score: 1

      A Faraday cage blocks electromagnetic fields basically by reflecting them -- it's a mirror. An electron is not an electromagnetic field. An electron is an electron. Your Faraday cage is uncharged. Why would an electron interact with it? If the electron actually struck the metal, it MIGHT be bound to the metal, but at relativistic speeds an electron is more like a bullet which simply passes through things, dissipating energy as it goes.

      Out in the wild universe, energies, velocities, and field strengths can become MUCH larger than anything we can easily produce on Earth. Even your trusty Faraday cage can't block an electric field which is strong enough to physically rip the electrons from the metal.

    4. Re:Faraday cage? by scorp1us · · Score: 1

      Lets contemplate and "electron striking metal". Given that the metal is in a simple case, made of a singular type of atom, which contains a vast amount pf empty space, electrons, neutrons and protons, and that it already travels at or near the speed of light, how much energy in excess of the norm can it it impart? Also, one it enters the lattice of the metal, why would it not just be integrated into the electron shells? Every atom should be a giant magnet and effectively absorb the electron.

      --
      Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
    5. Re:Faraday cage? by pclminion · · Score: 1

      Lets contemplate and "electron striking metal". Given that the metal is in a simple case, made of a singular type of atom, which contains a vast amount pf empty space, electrons, neutrons and protons, and that it already travels at or near the speed of light, how much energy in excess of the norm can it it impart? Also, one it enters the lattice of the metal, why would it not just be integrated into the electron shells? Every atom should be a giant magnet and effectively absorb the electron.

      Well, you can speculate that that's true, but the reality is that it is not true. But let's put the money where the mouth is -- I'll crank up a beam of relativistic electrons, and you can get into a Faraday cage and stand in front of the beam, and we can see what happens.

  12. beta rays by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    o noes! Beta rays have changed their name to killer electrons. We are doomed.

  13. Ban killer electrons. by Grimbleton · · Score: 1

    For the children.

  14. Re:Oh yeah? by Cryacin · · Score: 1

    Tiger syndrome? (ducks)

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  15. Really.. by anonymousNR · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I am having a big problem these days figuring out which article at slashdot does not belong to Idle category.
    Yeah I know this is Redundant.
    I needed a good place to start burning my karma anyway.

    --
    -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle
  16. Title humor by owlstead · · Score: 3, Funny

    In case someone does not get the joke embedded in the title:
    http://www.badmovies.org/movies/killtomato/killtomato-song.wav

    Attaaaaaaack of the killer electrons!

  17. Taser International has already patented it by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

    Anything that can fry the bejesus off your balls . . . is good for their business.

    Law enforcement authorities love'em.

    "Oh, please, resist arrest . . . this Taser Killer Electron is all charged up and ready to go . . . now tell me . . . do you feel lucky . . . punk!

    Taser Killer Electron . . . when regular, wimpy-ass electrons just can't get the job done!

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  18. Heh did anyone else read that wrong? by bobdown2001 · · Score: 1

    It certainly wasn't "electrons" I saw at first glance. I thought there must have been some cheap dodgy form of Viagra on the market with really bad side effects!

    --
    Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?
  19. Obvious by sycodon · · Score: 3, Funny

    For many years, the mechanism by which killer electrons are produced has remained poorly understood

    Isn't it obvious? Climate Change of course.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  20. So this is what is behind... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    the runaway Toyotas.

  21. Killer protons by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2, Informative

    Protons (cosmic rays) arrive in random directions from gamma ray bursts billions of light years away in every direction. The energies are usually in the MeV - GeV range, the flux is low, and regular shielding is enough to stop most of them. (Electrons like that arrive too, but they're like the BB pellets of cosmic rays.) Astronauts need to worry a little bit about solar wind and cosmic rays giving them cancer, but they need to worry more about orbiting paint chips traveling at 20000 mph. A paint chip once hit the space shuttle window and blasted a hole a few cm wide.

    Occasionally a relativistic proton arrives with a respectable human-scale energy, measurable in Joules. Cancer is the least of your worries. It could blow your head clean off, or blast a circuit board into smithereens. [Hey MythBusters, are you listening?] We still don't really understand what phenomenon generates single particles with such a ridiculously high speed, but we're pretty sure black holes are involved in some way. Unfortunately you don't get much of a show when they strike the upper atmosphere because they glide to a stop as they generate a shitstorm of particle showers. If they actually hit the ground we might assume they were meteorites, or the hand of God... either shooting at people with bad aim, or punching holes in the ground and commanding us to play golf.

    1. Re:Killer protons by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

      The paint chip that hit STS-59 made a ding 1/2 inch in diameter but did not puncture the window. It is not the only such windshield damage, just the largest.

      --
      Bruce Perens.
    2. Re:Killer protons by MartinSchou · · Score: 1

      Occasionally a relativistic proton arrives with a respectable human-scale energy, measurable in Joules. Cancer is the least of your worries. It could blow your head clean off

      Are you entirely sure about that? While I will agree that it's a huge amount of energy for a single particle, that particle is tiny. It's going to leave a very very small hole going in and out. Even if the entire energy of that particle was transferred into your head, would it really make it explode?

      It takes 4.2 joule to heat one gram of water 1C. A brain is 1.5 kg and probably 50% water. So 750 grams of water at 38C. Getting that to boiling point (which might make your head explode) would require 195,300 joule. According to google that is 1.21 × 10^15 gigaelectron volts. I rounded it down slightly, just to get that 1.21 Giga[...]volt. By comparison, the Higgs Boson is expected to be between 115 and 150 GeV.

      I'm not a physicist, not even by a long shot, but the idea that a single proton can blow your head clean off is probably in the same realm of realism as bad guys being thrown back across a room when hit by pistol fire. But I'd love for someone who HAS a background in physics to show me wrong.

    3. Re:Killer protons by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 1
      Bravely quoting the current Wikipedia edit:

      The first observation of a cosmic ray with an energy exceeding 10^20 electronvolts was made by John Linsley at the Volcanic Ranch experiment in New Mexico in 1962. Cosmic rays with even higher energies have since been observed. Among them was the Oh-My-God particle (a play on the nickname "God particle" for the Higgs boson) observed on the evening of 15 October 1991 over Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. Its observation was a shock to astrophysicists, who estimated its energy to be approximately 3 × 10^20 electronvolts (50 joules)—in other words, a subatomic particle with macroscopic kinetic energy equal to that of a baseball (142 g or 5 ounces) traveling at 96 km/h (60 mph). It was most probably a proton with a speed very close to the speed of light. To a static observer, such a proton, traveling at 1 (5×10^24) times c, would travel only 47 nanometers (5×10^24 light-years) less than a light-year in one year. Since the first observation, by the University of Utah's Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector, at least fifteen similar events have been recorded, confirming the phenomenon. These very high energy cosmic rays are very rare; the energy of most cosmic rays is between 10^7 eV and 10^10 eV.

      Physicists always talk about these particles, with "enough energy as a fastball", "enough to whack your head off" etc. These are colloquialisms.

      The proton probably does just go through your head- after all, it mostly sees nothing. But it can reach places in your head which are off-limits to bullets. Even though it mostly sails through, sometimes it has a collision with something inside your head, interacting via one or the other of these fields. It could cause a huge release of energy, with a massive particle shower of muons, pions, kaons, W+, W-, Z, e+, e-, and gamma rays everywhere. (Neutrinos, who cares.) It would depend on the mean free path of all this crud in your head.

      Besides, they're probably thinking, there's one even more powerful that *WILL* blow your head off even if this one only hits you in the head like a fastball.

    4. Re:Killer protons by MartinSchou · · Score: 1

      Even then, a 96 km/h baseball won't take your head off. It'll hurt like hell, but that's about it.

      And even the (likely lethal) "shower of muons, pions, kaons, W+, W-, Z, e+, e-, and gamma rays" won't somehow have a combined energy above the level of energy of the original particle. Antoli Burgoski's head didn't explode. The proton beam cut right through his skull - and while that was possibly a "weaker" impact that that of an OMG-particle, that really just means the OMG-particle would do the same.

      There certainly are events that will make your head explode. If any of the nearby stars go nova, we shouldn't expect to survive it. But that doesn't mean it makes sense to talk about 'stars exploding will rip your head off'. If you're close enough - yes, duh. But these elusive insane energy particles? How many actual documented cases do we have of people's limbs exploding for no apparent reasons? None? That makes it a pretty good case, that those particles have never ever hit the Earth in written history. If an example should show up, I'll change my stance on this - until then, I'll place that idea along side the idea of proving the existence of a god-like creature and supernatural abilities.

    5. Re:Killer protons by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 1

      And even the (likely lethal) "shower of muons, pions, kaons, W+, W-, Z, e+, e-, and gamma rays" won't somehow have a combined energy above the level of energy of the original particle.

      I didn't think I implied they would. I was talking about the percentage that might or not be relased inside the head.

  22. by a factor of X times by unixan · · Score: 1

    increase by a factor of more than ten times

    Just like the x times less phrase, the "by a factor of X times" phrase just makes me wish that Slashdot would implement last-chance review before an editor is allowed to post.

    For reference, "ten times" is a factor of 1.

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    This signature intentionally left unblank.
    1. Re:by a factor of X times by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      No, ten times is indeed a factor of 10. Ten times is one ORDER OF MAGNITUDE, though. Sheesh. Learn the language.

  23. Re:But... but... Look at the fangs! by Zancarius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's no ordinary electron. That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered subatomic particle you ever set eyes on.

    I like how the summary reads almost exactly like that.

    I confess that my first thoughts when reading about these evil electrons were to contemplate the likes of lightning. And maybe high voltage sources. After all, those can certainly damage electronics and harm human tissue. Oh, how dreadful!

    Ah, but that's right. Lightning is a natural earth-based phenomenon. Pity it's so ordinary.

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    He who has no .plan has small finger. ~ Confucius on UNIX
  24. Killer electrons from unannounced inteloper by Cr0vv · · Score: 1

    I've posted on this before. These electrons are being emitted from a small brown dwarf star interloping through our solar system, it's that simple. Yeah, NASA knows but they won't say. Crow.

  25. Ten times? Ten times compared to what? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

    can increase by a factor of more than ten times

    So let’s say, from
    0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
    to
    0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
    ?

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    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  26. Positrons by declaneven1 · · Score: 1

    Yeah!! positrons are our only last hope. http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/denta-smile-md-review-how-effective-dentasmile-md-is-1954951.html

  27. Air Traffic Control system- Next Gen- GPS by BubbaDave · · Score: 1

    They will rightly be called killer electrons when the GPS system goes tango-uniform and I can't fly home and strangle somone!

    Dave

    1. Re:Air Traffic Control system- Next Gen- GPS by BubbaDave · · Score: 1

      *Ahem* that should have read ', and then I strangle someone'.

      Dave

  28. Killer electrons? by lennier · · Score: 1

    We're gonna need a smaller boat...

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    You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC