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Attack of the Killer Electrons
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."
Were you also implying that everything down there is on the subatomic scale?
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.
Maybe if they wouldn't be so negative all the time, they wouldn't want to kill anyone.
You are now manually breathing.
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.
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.
I'm not worried! The positrons will save us!
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
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!
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.
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.
> 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.
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.
He who has no