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Man Creates ATLAS Detector From Lego Bricks
First time accepted submitter Vicsun writes "It won't be smashing hadrons at speeds that are fractions of the speed of light, but it will still be a hell of a lot of fun, and could be in your hands soon. A post-doc at the Niels Bohr Institute, in Copenhagen, has recreated the ATLAS detector in Lego bricks, and is now trying to transform his design into an official LEGO product."
"Official" LEGO project, geez. :) Would that become an "Official" LEGO project?
It's getting to a point where all the various types of LEGO could be an entire store unto itself!
At this point, I'm surprised nobody has designed these bricks to have actual purpose such as mechanical, electronic and/or other type of entities that could be programmed and then assembled to do SOMETHING.
I was once a kid and I recall my fun with LEGO, but, back then, there were just a bunch of pieces and you let your imagination go, now, it's utterly ridiculous.
Maybe we should be building a LEGO Inflatable Doll
It's a freakin' 100 ton assault 'mech.
It's not particularly hard to detect.
This Lego creation is really amazing in person. The guy did a stellar job. It's permanently located in the lobby of building 50 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (right next to the cigar box where Glenn Seaborg put the first ever sample of Plutonium). If you go on a tour there or visit an Open House, you can see it for yourself. Here's a site with a lot more details about its construction: http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~sdube/lego.html
unless you provide the fractional value of whatever measurement you are referencing. Seriously, I technically am moving at a fraction of the speed of light while I sit on my ass typing this, should be unnecessary, post.
He's putting together kits for ATLAS collaborators here but I doubt Cuscoo would fund a 2000 Euro kit as a consumer product.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
560 pieces.
In fall 2011, I have designed a model of the ATLAS experiment made entirely of LEGO bricks.
It illustrates all details, from the muon and magnet system to the innermost pixel detector and will hopefully be a great eye-catcher for all generations. Here's some key features:
ATLAS LEGO model
about 9500 pieces
roughly 1:50 in scale
(close to scale with the LEGO man)
material cost of about 2000 Euros
(payed by the high energy physics group at the Niels Bohr Institute)
about 1 m x 0.5 m x 0.5 m in size
approximately 33 hours construction time
(spread out over several weekends and after hours)
around 48 hours to build the 3D model
(a one-timer though)
As a follow up to the 1:50 model, I also designed a smaller and cheaper miniature model in LEGO bricks.
Though it does not illustrate all details, the key features of ATLAS are visible. Here's some key features:
ATLAS LEGO mini
560 pieces
roughly 1:2000 in scale
material cost of about 75 Euros
about 22 cm x 11 cm x 11 cm in size
approximately 90 minutes construction time
around 7 hours to build the 3D model
(a one-timer though)
http://sascha.mehlhase.info/physics.php
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
"It won't be smashing protons and neutrons at speeds approaching the speed of light"
THEN WHAT GOOD IS IT????
It's completely useless if it doesn't help me build my death ray!
Um, I mean my "green energy projector." At least that's what my subsidy application says...
Speeds that are the product of an irrational number and the speed of light cannot be expressed as a fraction. Consider yourself out-pedanted.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
It won't be smashing hadrons at speeds that are fractions of the speed of light
it will be doing exactly that. in other news, i can do anything at a fraction of the speed of light.
They can be expressed as a *fraction* - "sqrt(2)/2" is a *fraction* - but they can't be expressed as *a ratio between two numbers that are both integers*. BAM! Double-out-pedanted.
Speeds that are the product of an irrational number and the speed of light cannot be expressed as a fraction. Consider yourself out-pedanted.
Why, you can't go C/Pi?
The whole time I'm reading the article I'm saying to myself, "WTF? How did this guy build a functional ATLAS detector so small and out of legos?"
Functional?
duh... //facedesk
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Based on the photographs from CERN, the big model is actually fairly close to minifigure scale.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
I think the proper title for that Lego model might be:
Ceci n'est pas un detecteur ATLAS.