Table-top Particle Accelerator Created 55

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:22PM from the what-could-go-wrong dept.

holy_calamity writes "French physicists have built a desktop particle accelerator. It uses a pair of laser beams to precisely control the acceleration of electrons within a plasma. It has the power of a device that usually takes up a whole room and could lead to new medical treatments. They don't mention the potential for experiments like 'what happens if I put my lunch in front of a 300 megaelectronvolt beam?'"

Table-top Particle Accelerator Created

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Been around for years (Score:2)

by Maury Markowitz ( 452832 ) writes:

*sigh*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_acceleration [wikipedia.org]
- Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Insightful)
  
  by holy_calamity ( 872269 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:33PM (#17147328)
  
  No it hasn't. That's why the French team's work has appeared in the top journal Nature this week. The editor has written a freely accessible summary [nature.com] with links to the research article. The first paragraph [nature.com] of that is freely available.
  
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by slashkitty ( 21637 ) writes:
    
    Yes it has. Table top particle acceleration has been. Maybe not this menthod, but less powerful ones.
    - Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Interesting)
      
      by slashkitty ( 21637 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @01:57PM (#17148660) Homepage
      
      In fact, you probably have a table top particle accelerator in your house. http://science.howstuffworks.com/atom-smasher2.htm [howstuffworks.com] Yes, a CRT is also considered a particle accelerator!
      
- Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
  
  by Anonymous Coward writes:
  
  Sure, it's been around for ages. The article even mentions explicitely that this is a decade-old idea. It also says that it has been very difficult to fine-tune this idea. This is what these guys did.
  
  I suggest that you update the Wikipedia article about plasma acceleration...
- Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Funny)
  
  by hal2814 ( 725639 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:46PM (#17147542)
  
  Really. These guys [wikipedia.org] used to strap them on like backpacks when they went to work everyday.
  
  - Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Funny)
    
    by inviolet ( 797804 ) writes: <slashdot@@@ideasmatter...org> on Thursday December 07, 2006 @01:16PM (#17148004) Journal
    
    "You know, it just occurred to me, we've never had a completely successful test of this equipment."
    "I blame myself."
    "So do I."
    "Well, no sense worrying about it now. Switch me on."
    
    - Sounds familiar (Score:4, Funny)
      
      by plopez ( 54068 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @02:24PM (#17149132) Journal
      
      like every software project I took part in.
      
  - Re: (Score:1)
    
    by krakelohm ( 830589 ) writes:
    
    [while taking down Slimer in hotel] "Maybe now you'll never slime a guy with a positron collider!"
They're not stupid (Score:2)

by darkonc ( 47285 ) writes:

'what happens if I put my lunch in front of a 300 megaelectronvolt beam?'"
If they did that, they'd get their site slashdotted.
Oh, nevermind....
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Toby The Economist ( 811138 ) writes:
  
  > what happens if I put my lunch in front of a 300 megaelectronvolt beam?
  
  Isn't that about the same a front beam laser?
  - Re: (Score:3, Informative)
    
    by darkonc ( 47285 ) writes:
    
    A 300MEV beam signifies the energy of individual particles. Such a beam might have an very low intensity, or could be strong enough to be used as a weapon (that's a function of both wattage and diameter). A particle beam can cause either chemical or atomic changes in your lunch (i.e. it could conceivably make it radioactive).
    A laser beam is only going to cook/burn your lunch.
    
    Isn't that about the same a front beam laser?
  - Re: (Score:1)
    
    by cuantar ( 897695 ) writes:
    
    Nope. Lasers are just monochromatic, polarized light, meaning they're beams of photons with nearly the same energy that are all travelling in the same direction. 300MeV is actually really high for a laser; after a little algebra, the wavelength of a laser with that energy is 4.13e-6 nanometers. Most lasers that I know of are visible light or infrared, but light with a wavelength on the order of 10^-6 nm (10^-15 m) is high on the gamma side of the spectrum.
    
    If you were to put a sandwich into a 300MeV pr
    - Re:They're not stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
      
      by Sangui5 ( 12317 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @02:56PM (#17149722)
      
      Don't forget all of the other stuff you get from spalling, like high energy X-rays. Actually, at 300MeV, I'd wager on getting a fairly decent gamma ray beam. Without a purpose built collimator, I'd guess that there'd be a good amount of "spray" all over the place. So you'd probably get a hole in a radioactive sandwich, plus a good dose of radiation just for standing nearby. Yes, a healthy dose life-giving radiation [nukees.com].
      
      Remember, the Therac-25 system was quite lethal when it malfunctioned, and it "only" used a 25 MeV beam. 300MeV is a LOT of punch per particle, and if the intensity is high enough all sorts of nasty things will happen.
      
      - Re: (Score:2)
        
        by Iron Condor ( 964856 ) writes:
        
        Actually, at 300MeV, I'd wager on getting a fairly decent gamma ray beam.
        You lost me there -- by what process? For a z=1 particle at 300MeV/n kinetic energy, the stopping power [sgeier.net] of dry air is about ~3.1 MeV/(g/cm^2) - so that's pretty much transparent. You don't get much energy loss until you hit someone or something. (For Lung tissue I get ~3.5MeV/(g/cm^2), so taking human density to be about ~1, you'd deposit almost half the energy of the particle during penetration of a body (say 30 cm thick))
        
        Re: (Score:2, Informative)
        
        by Sangui5 ( 12317 ) writes:
        
        When it hits the sandwich.
Eat Banana (Score:3, Informative)

by neurostar ( 578917 ) writes: <neurostarNO@SPAMprivon.com> on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:25PM (#17147190)

'what happens if I put my lunch in front of a 300 megaelectronvolt beam?'

Nothing you can see, because that's ~ 4e-11 J.

- Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
  
  by Anonymous Coward writes:
  
  Not quite, you forgot the flux. 300MeV is the energy per electron so you meant ~4e-11 J/electron. I did not RTFA, but I'm guessing the accelerator produced more than one electron. Also, don't forget, luminosity is also an important way to factor the problem --- electrons/area/sec. That being said, I'd be more concerned about the safety of the lasers they must be using to pump the system.
- Not quite (Score:2, Informative)
  
  by Anonymous Coward writes:
  
  300 MeV may be 4e-11 J, but that's not the relevant figure. 300 MeV refers to the energy of a single electron in the beam. The beam itself, however, contains many, many electrons, not to mention the energy in the lasers and plasma producing the beam.
Mmm.. (Score:4, Funny)

by RobTFirefly ( 844560 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:26PM (#17147198) Homepage Journal

Lunch is all well and good, but I'm still waiting for an investigation into the device's popcorn-popping capabilities. [imdb.com]

Throw me a bone here... (Score:1)

by wwiiol_toofless ( 991717 ) writes:

I want tables with frickin' lasers on their heads. I apologize.
Finally! (Score:2)

by Dr. Eggman ( 932300 ) writes:

At last, I've found the perfect Christmas gift for my evil genius cousin!
SECOND Table-top Particle Accelerator Created! (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes:

These guys never heard of air hockey?
Table top accelerators are already being replaced (Score:2)

by mc6809e ( 214243 ) writes:

with LCDs!
Time to market? (Score:5, Funny)

by jimstapleton ( 999106 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:38PM (#17147410) Journal

I can see it now...

Boss: "What is that on your desk?"
Me: "A particle accelerator."
Boss: "OK, next question... Why?"
Me: "Because I can."

- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) writes:
  
  Boss: "What is that on your desk?"
  Me: "A particle accelerator."
  Boss: "OK, next question... Why?"
  Me: "Because I can."
  Guy in the next cubicle: Can it run Linux?
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by jimstapleton ( 999106 ) writes:
    
    lol, actually my boss and I are the only two here that don't really mind Unix operating systems that much, though I'd much rather used BSD than Linux...
    
    hmmm, can it run NetBSD?
Important safety tip... (Score:3, Funny)

by Etcetera ( 14711 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:39PM (#17147432) Homepage

They don't mention the potential for experiments like 'what happens if I put my lunch in front of a 300 megaelectronvolt beam?'

Whatever you do, don't cross the streams [wikipedia.org]!

- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by eviloverlordx ( 99809 ) writes:
  
  Whatever you do, don't cross the streams!
  
  Don't look in the trap, either.
Been done before... (Score:1)

by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) writes:

They don't mention the potential for experiments like 'what happens if I put my lunch in front of a 300 megaelectronvolt beam?

Some egghead before or during World War II had an egg in his pocket when working around microwave beams when the egg decided to go pop. The device is called a microwave oven and sits on the kitchen counter. I got mine for free when I signed for a one-year lease on my apartment. :P
- Chocolate bar (Score:3, Informative)
  
  by coyote-san ( 38515 ) writes:
  
  http://cultureofchemistry.blogspot.com/2005/11/rad ar-and-chocolate-bar.html [blogspot.com]
  
  And don't use the term 'egghead'. It's origin is Nazi brown-shirts referring to how the skulls of intellectuals shatter when they hit the ground. (Or something equally violent.) We have enough anti-intellectualism in this country already.
  - Re:egghead (Score:2)
    
    by FunkyRat ( 36011 ) writes:
    
    That's not true. The term dates back to the first decade of the 20th C. as slang for "bald". Chicago newspapermen picked up on the word and started using it to mean someone with intellectual pretensions and the term gained widespread popularization in 1952 when New York Herald Tribune columnist Stewart Alsop used it to refer to the presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson.
  - Re: (Score:1, Troll)
    
    by nurb432 ( 527695 ) writes:
    
    "It's origin is Nazi brown-shirts referring to how the skulls of intellectuals shatter when they hit the ground. "
    
    And your point?
- Chocolate bar (Score:1, Offtopic)
  
  by coyote-san ( 38515 ) writes:
  
  http://cultureofchemistry.blogspot.com/2005/11/ra d ar-and-chocolate-bar.html [blogspot.com]
  
  BTW, don't use the term 'egghead'. That anti-intellectual term comes from Nazi brownshirts referring to how easily intellectual's heads shattered, or something equally violent. We have enough anti-intellectualism in this country already. Just look at those damn Geico commercials.
  
  (Seriously. The 'modern' humans are assholes who can mock or outshout the cavemen but that's all... and don't feel any shame about it. The 'cavemen' ar
  - Re: (Score:1)
    
    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) writes:
    
    Maybe you need to check your facts regarding egghead [etymonline.com] since it appears to be American slang. Not unless you were trying to indirectly suggest I'm a Nazi sympathizer. There's enough anti-intellectuals (or people who don't know there facts) in this country.
Christmas List? (Score:2, Funny)

by bepolite ( 972314 ) writes:

Please Santa can I have a Particle Accelerator? I've been good!
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by Nef ( 46782 ) writes:
  
  [SantaVoice]You'll shoot your eye out kid!!! [imdb.com][/SantaVoice]
It could be a new game (Score:1)

by Lex-Man82 ( 994679 ) writes:

Press the button to find a new particle. Bonus points if you find a Graviton.
Done before (Score:4, Funny)

by j00r0m4nc3r ( 959816 ) writes: on Thursday December 07, 2006 @12:49PM (#17147600)

This has been done already, just with really really really big desktops.

It might not give the answer ... but (Score:2)

by zappepcs ( 820751 ) writes:

If you want to put your lunch in front of something, try this: http://www.solardeathray.com/ [solardeathray.com]
Ghostbusters (Score:1)

by darkshadow ( 102598 ) writes:

An unlicensed nuclear accelerator?
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by Jorelli ( 1009279 ) writes:
  
  fortunately it's NOT a proton pack. i say fortunately since the proton pack's inventor is quoted as saying "the proton pack is not a toy" whereas this device is clearly intended for entertainment purposes.
cooking at CERN (Score:2, Funny)

by joejor ( 578266 ) writes:

Perhaps they can follow up on high energy culinary research, as previously documented in
Zryd A., Liechti T., Wagnière J.D. (1995). The laser cheese raclette, Annals of Improbable Research, 1, 3, 12-15.
accelerator? (Score:1)

by deadstatue ( 1004528 ) writes:

isnt this just a wakefield accelerator?isnt that old news?unless im wrong ive read about this bout a year ago in sci.am.
But how big... (Score:2)

by coldtone ( 98189 ) writes:

is the table?
What is the mass of this "Tabletop Particle" (Score:1)

by Anomalyst ( 742352 ) writes:

IANAQM (Quantum Mechanic) but I do not recall the discovery announcement for this hadron(?).
I accelerate particles every morning... (Score:2)

by C_Kode ( 102755 ) writes:

I accelerate particles every morning when I fire one out...
In Related News.... (Score:1)

by brendan0powers ( 939524 ) writes:

World's largest table has been created.
Most of us have owned one (Score:2)

by dlleigh ( 313922 ) writes:

LCDs are making them obsolete, but CRTs (which we all know and loved) work by accelerating electrons to a few keV. The electrons are moving at a not insignificant hunk of the speed of light and produce X-rays as they slam into the front of the tube.

Next time you're sitting in front of one, remember that there's an unlicensed particle accelerator a couple of feet from your brain.
El Cerrito cyclotron (Score:1)

by 602 ( 652745 ) writes:

In 1947, four high school students in El Cerrito, California built a cyclotron. Here's a PDF of an article [physicstoday.org] from Physics Today.

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Been around for years (Score:2)

Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Insightful)

Re: (Score:2)

Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Interesting)

Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Been around for years (Score:4, Funny)

Sounds familiar (Score:4, Funny)

Re: (Score:1)

They're not stupid (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Informative)

Re: (Score:1)

Re:They're not stupid (Score:4, Interesting)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2, Informative)

Eat Banana (Score:3, Informative)

Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

Not quite (Score:2, Informative)

Mmm.. (Score:4, Funny)

Throw me a bone here... (Score:1)

Finally! (Score:2)

SECOND Table-top Particle Accelerator Created! (Score:1, Funny)

Table top accelerators are already being replaced (Score:2)

Time to market? (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Important safety tip... (Score:3, Funny)

Re: (Score:1)

Been done before... (Score:1)

Chocolate bar (Score:3, Informative)

Re:egghead (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1, Troll)

Chocolate bar (Score:1, Offtopic)

Re: (Score:1)

Christmas List? (Score:2, Funny)

Re: (Score:1)

It could be a new game (Score:1)

Done before (Score:4, Funny)

It might not give the answer ... but (Score:2)

Ghostbusters (Score:1)

Re: (Score:1)

cooking at CERN (Score:2, Funny)

accelerator? (Score:1)

But how big... (Score:2)

What is the mass of this "Tabletop Particle" (Score:1)

I accelerate particles every morning... (Score:2)

In Related News.... (Score:1)

Most of us have owned one (Score:2)

El Cerrito cyclotron (Score:1)

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