Yup. I have posted on it. Here is their official website: http://www.iter.org/default.aspx
On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 11:36 AM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote: > > > That movie was odd. It had some potential, but just degenerated into a > mess. I wasn't aware it was based on a real life site. They have a large > test fusion reactor in France? > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 1:42:29 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Successful Geneva Atom Smasher Sets Collision > Record > > > > What about the fusion reactor in France? I haven't heard much about it > lately. Since syfy made that horrible movie about it blowing up and wiping > out southern France. > > On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 9:08 AM, Keith Johnson > <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote: > >> >> >> Kewl! For years, after my first intention to be an astronomer, I was >> determined to be a nuclear physicist. Even visited a fusion reactor test >> system at UT-Austin. I love this stuff. I'm still trying to wrap my mind >> around a "particle" carrying mass, but boy am I excited to think about it, >> and some final understanding of why anti-matter didn't get produced in >> greater quantities. And guess what? No black holes opened up to swallow >> France (right wingnuts will be dismayed at that)...no other-dimensional evil >> aliens swarmed through a rip in spacetime to eat our souls and brains (too >> bad, I could have sent them to Wasilla)...no lethal radiation turned the >> Swiss into zombie mutants. >> >> The funny thing is the scientists who are actually *tweeting* about this >> like excited teenagers! My gosh, social networking is something else. Will >> the next astronauts to land on Mars or something, instead of saying >> something profound, pull out their phones and tweet? I can see it now: >> >> "Really cold. Lots of red dirt. Johnson just fell, now his butt is red >> too. LOL. Wish u cld c it 2. --Starlover656" >> >> **************************************************************** >> Geneva atom smasher sets collision record[AP News] >> >> . >> By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer Alexander G. Higgins, >> Associated Press Writer – 33 mins ago >> >> GENEVA – The world's largest atom smasher conducted its first experiments >> at conditions nearing those after the Big Bang, breaking its own record for >> high-energy collisions with proton beams crashing into each other Tuesday at >> three times more force than ever before. >> >> In a milestone for the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider's ambitious bid >> to reveal details about theoretical particles and microforces, scientists at >> the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, collided the beams >> and took measurements at a combined energy level of 7 trillion electron >> volts. >> >> The collisions herald a new era for researchers working on the machine in >> a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel below the Swiss-French border at Geneva. >> >> "That's it! They've had a collision," said Oliver Buchmueller from Imperial >> College in London as people closely watched monitors. >> >> In a control room, scientists erupted with applause when the first >> successful collisions were confirmed. Their colleagues from around the world >> were tuning in by remote links to witness the new record, which surpasses >> the 2.36 TeV CERN recorded last year. >> >> Dubbed the world's largest scientific experiment, researchers hope the >> machine can approach on a tiny scale what happened in the first split >> seconds after the Big Bang, which they theorize was the creation of the >> universe some 14 billion years ago. >> >> The extra energy in Geneva is expected to reveal even more about the >> unanswered questions of particle physics, such as the existence of >> antimatter and the search for the Higgs boson, a hypothetical particle >> that scientists theorize gives mass to other particles and thus to other >> objects and creatures in the universe. >> >> Tuesday's initial attempts at collisions were unsuccessful because >> problems developed with the beams, said scientists working on the massive >> machine. That meant the protons had to be "dumped" from the collider and new >> beams had to be injected. >> >> The atmosphere at CERN was tense considering the collider's launch with >> great fanfare on Sept. 10, 2008. Nine days later, the project was >> sidetracked when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated, causing >> extensive damage to the massive magnets and other parts of the collider some >> 300 feet (100 meters) below the ground. >> >> It cost $40 million to repair and improve the machine. Since its restart >> in November 2009, the collider has performed almost flawlessly and given >> scientists valuable data. It quickly eclipsed the next largest accelerator — >> the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago. >> >> Two beams of protons began 10 days ago to speed at high energy in opposite >> directions around the tunnel, the coldest place in the universe, at a >> couple of degrees above absolute zero. CERN used powerful superconducting >> magnets to force the two beams to cross, creating collisions and showers >> of particles. >> >> "Experiments are collecting their first physics data — historic moment >> here!" a scientist tweeted on CERN's official Twitter account. >> >> "Nature does it all the time with cosmic rays (and with higher energy) >> but this is the first time this is done in Laboratory!" said another tweet. >> >> When collisions become routine, the beams will be packed with hundreds of >> billions of protons, but the particles are so tiny that few will collide at >> each crossing. >> >> The experiments will come over the objections of some people who fear they >> could eventually imperil Earth by creating micro black holes — subatomic >> versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in >> planets and other stars. >> >> CERN and many scientists dismiss any threat to Earth or people on it, >> saying that any such holes would be so weak that they would vanish almost >> instantly without causing any damage. >> >> Bivek Sharma, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, >> said the images of the first crashed proton beams were beautiful. >> >> "It's taken us 25 years to build," he said. "This is what it's for. >> Finally the baby is delivered. Now it has to grow." >> >> ___ >> >> >> >> > > > -- > Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! > Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ > > > > > -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
