Using a Toy Train To Calibrate a Reactor 120
alfredos writes "Physicists and engineers at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory built tracks inside a fusion reactor and ran a toy train for three days to help them with their calibrations. From the article: 'The modified model of a diesel train engine was carrying a small chunk of californium-252, a radioactive element that spews neutrons as it falls apart. “We needed to refine the calibration technique to make sure we are measuring our neutrons as accurately as possible,” said Masa Ono, the project head of the National Spherical Torus Experiment.'"
So what is this... (Score:5, Funny)
Aha! (Score:5, Funny)
You can use this just about anywhere. Now I have an excuse to bring the train into the office!
Boss: What's this?
Me: I'm calibrating the security cameras motion detection system. We need to know at what speeds the motion detection fails, lest the server room be broken into by someone with alot of patience.
Re:So what is this... (Score:5, Funny)
One of these days I'm going to have to set up my laptop right beside the drumset and read slashdot.
Gotta practice those rimshots.
(who knows, maybe one day I'll be a great sidekick on a late night talk show!)
Makes more sense than... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh. Right.
Casey Jones (Score:4, Funny)
Casey on the Californium Express
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig3GcDBjQN4
Uncomfortable (Score:4, Funny)
I know the physicists mean well, and it probably gets the job done, but for some reason the notion that they use a toy train to calibrate a nuclear reactor would not make me feel more secure about living near a nuclear reactor.
Maybe if they'd used slot cars.
Hey, now there's a generational reference. Who among us remembers slot cars? And who among us is willing to admit it?
Selling this to management . . . (Score:3, Funny)
"So you want to put a toy train in my reactor?" Condescending glare and awkward silence . . .
Glowing trains (Score:4, Funny)