Introduction - Oct 21 4:42PM
Dr. Syphers,
Hello. My Name is Josh, and I am a Junior at [...] High School. I'm currently taking physics to better prepare me for my hoped major in college. I plan to major in Atmospheric Science, and minor in Music and Theater. I find this an interesting pairing, as do most others. I am musically and theaterically inclined. I enjoy the sciences and maths, but not English.
Whats it like working with a Partical Accelerator? It sounds quite interesting.
Re: Introduction - Oct 25 12:29AM
Hi Josh,
I think it's great that you have a very diverse set of interests. You'll find that whatever you do in life you can draw from all of them. Keep it up!
Working on particle accelerators is really a lot of fun for me. I get to work on state-of-the-art equipment, tour the world, write papers (and books sometimes) and give talks, work with some of the best people on the planet -- including lots of students and younger scientists. I think it's a job that's hard to beat.
What are you guys studying in physics right now?
-Mike
Re: Re: Introduction - Oct 29 1:32PM
We have just transitioned from forces to energy, definately the easiest of the units we have covered so far. I rather enjoy the class, and all the labs that we do in it. I guess I should with my career choice.
It would seem that your job entails alot of chemistry as of physics. This is interesting, especially when it comes to creating new elements. How do the accelerators distribute the energy created from the collision of the heavy elements? Do you use both fission and fusion when you combind the atoms? I would say fusion, but I guess that both are plausible. Fission would result in two smaller elements than what you would want, so I guess I answered my own question. Anyway thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
~Josh
Re: Re: Re: Introduction - Nov 01 12:22AM
Hi Josh,
Some might say that Chemistry is just a sub-set of Physics; in fact you can take courses in "Physical Chemistry" in college. So, yes, there is a lot of overlap. But, when we create new elements with the accelerators, we just get one or a few atoms at a time; not enough to stock up a chemistry lab, I guess…
And thanks for answering your question for me. ;-)
Cheers,
-Mike
Re: Re: Re: Re: Introduction - Nov 01 6:04PM
I would not have guessed that you only gain a few atoms at a time. I would have guessed from the size of the machine you get a good number of them. Have you actually created a new element yet? Now what are Rare Isotope Beams? I remember what an Isotope is, from my chemistry class last semester, but would the beams be of energy from the Isotope? It sounds rather interesting.
~Josh
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Introduction - Nov 02 12:26AM
Hi Josh,
I may have over stated that fact. Indeed, many of the experiments here actually do detect individual particles, one at a time, which is what I meant by my statement. But, "a time" could be a very small fraction of a second, and thus there can be many -- sometimes thousands or more -- every second. So, it's all kind of relative.
What we do at our facility here is take atoms -- either from a gas, or by heating up a solid until it emits atoms that can be captured -- and then we strip away some of the electrons by applying a high voltage to the gas. That yields an atom which has more positive charges than negative -- an ion. Since it has a net charge, it can be accelerated using other voltages, giving this ion kinetic energy. We keep doing this until the ion has been accelerated through millions of volts of electric potential. (You'll probably learn more about electricity and voltage, etc, later in the school year.) Anyway, charges can be accelerated by electric fields, so that's how we get very heavy atoms up to very high speed -- that's where their kinetic energy comes from. Then, we collide these high-speed atoms into metal targets (typically) so that they can interact with the atoms in the targets, and sometimes the two nuclei stick and make even heavier atoms and interesting isotopes.
I haven't been here at MSU all that long, so I'm not sure if they have actually discovered a brand new element; but we have been the first to discover various isotopes of already known elements, and we have the best complex in the nation for studying rare elements and isotopes in great detail.
Cheers,
-Mike
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Introduction - Nov 09 1:12PM
Dr. Syphers,
I thank you for all the help you have gave me. It sounds like you have quite the job, and your work has piqued my interest. Again on the behalf of my partners and myself, I would like to thank you for all the information that you have provided us.
Many thanks,
Josh
Showing posts with label heavy ions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heavy ions. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Golden Accelerator
Oct 19 3:24PM - Particle Accelerator Letdown.
14 Posts
Oh darn...there go our plans to blow up the Vatican. Dr. Syphers, reading your profile, I was wondering...what exactly do you accomplish by accelerating gold nuclei and colliding them together? And what first attracted you to the field of physics? ~A
Reply:
Hi,
Gold atoms are made up of 79 electrons around a nucleus of 79 protons and neutrons. Actually, its only stable isotope is 197Au, which means there are 79 protons and 118 neutrons in the nucleus! Since each proton and neutron are composed of smaller particles -- called quarks -- then there's a good chance of making "quark soup" when we collide gold nuclei. So, we strip away all of the electrons and accelerate the positively charged nuclei alone to try to generate a "sea" of quarks and gluons, at densities that likely haven't happened in nature since the time of the Big Bang. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_gluon_plasma
As for my humble beginnings, it really started for me at a young age when I became interested in the stars and planets.
-Mike
Oct 19 3:27PM - Fermilab
14 Posts
Hey! In reading your profile I was wondering what exactly a fermilab is. Also, what are y'all planning on doing with the Tevatron in two years once you close it down? ~S
Reply:
Hi S,
The term "fermilab" is just short for the laboratory where I work: the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. It's web site is: http://www.fnal.gov , in case you haven't seen it yet. Enrico Fermi was a famous physicist from the University of Chicago in the 1930-40's. He and his group were the first to generate sustainable nuclear energy from radioactive atomic nuclei and our lab is named after him.
We're still debating what to do once the Tevatron turns off. We might use it to do some different types of experiments. For instance, rather than collide beams together head on, we might use it to accelerate beams of particles and then direct them into stationary targets. We've done this before, and there are certain experiments that work well that way. Or, we might just shut it down and use the tunnel to build some different type of accelerator in the future, though we don't have a design for this use quite yet. Our budget will help determine if we can afford to keep it running, as will the various merits of the experiments that are dreamed up to use it.
-Mike
Oct 19 3:28PM - B's blog
14 Posts
How much do you get paid and what exactly does your job entail in a given day? (and by this, I mean, should I enter that field of study?) Thanks! ~B
Reply:
Hi B,
Personally, I think it's a great field of study. There are many uses of accelerators out there, not just for studying quarks and neutrinos, but also for medicine and industry and other uses.
Typically my day consists of many meetings, some work in our Control Room (where we run the accelerators) and sometimes I'm lucky and get to do some calculations and studies using the accelerators. But, I've been in the field for a while now; when I was younger it was less meetings and more "science." But that's OK; that's how it works. I get to travel a lot around the country and the world, have 5 weeks of vacation a year (plus holidays, etc.), and get to work with the coolest equipment, meet top scientists in all kinds of fields, have flexible work hours -- and it's just plain fun for me (most of the time). Oh, and a typical scientist at my level at Fermilab makes between 85K and 170K; I'm in the middle of that range somewhere.
-Mike
14 Posts
Oh darn...there go our plans to blow up the Vatican. Dr. Syphers, reading your profile, I was wondering...what exactly do you accomplish by accelerating gold nuclei and colliding them together? And what first attracted you to the field of physics? ~A
Reply:
Hi,
Gold atoms are made up of 79 electrons around a nucleus of 79 protons and neutrons. Actually, its only stable isotope is 197Au, which means there are 79 protons and 118 neutrons in the nucleus! Since each proton and neutron are composed of smaller particles -- called quarks -- then there's a good chance of making "quark soup" when we collide gold nuclei. So, we strip away all of the electrons and accelerate the positively charged nuclei alone to try to generate a "sea" of quarks and gluons, at densities that likely haven't happened in nature since the time of the Big Bang. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_gluon_plasma
As for my humble beginnings, it really started for me at a young age when I became interested in the stars and planets.
-Mike
Oct 19 3:27PM - Fermilab
14 Posts
Hey! In reading your profile I was wondering what exactly a fermilab is. Also, what are y'all planning on doing with the Tevatron in two years once you close it down? ~S
Reply:
Hi S,
The term "fermilab" is just short for the laboratory where I work: the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. It's web site is: http://www.fnal.gov , in case you haven't seen it yet. Enrico Fermi was a famous physicist from the University of Chicago in the 1930-40's. He and his group were the first to generate sustainable nuclear energy from radioactive atomic nuclei and our lab is named after him.
We're still debating what to do once the Tevatron turns off. We might use it to do some different types of experiments. For instance, rather than collide beams together head on, we might use it to accelerate beams of particles and then direct them into stationary targets. We've done this before, and there are certain experiments that work well that way. Or, we might just shut it down and use the tunnel to build some different type of accelerator in the future, though we don't have a design for this use quite yet. Our budget will help determine if we can afford to keep it running, as will the various merits of the experiments that are dreamed up to use it.
-Mike
Oct 19 3:28PM - B's blog
14 Posts
How much do you get paid and what exactly does your job entail in a given day? (and by this, I mean, should I enter that field of study?) Thanks! ~B
Reply:
Hi B,
Personally, I think it's a great field of study. There are many uses of accelerators out there, not just for studying quarks and neutrinos, but also for medicine and industry and other uses.
Typically my day consists of many meetings, some work in our Control Room (where we run the accelerators) and sometimes I'm lucky and get to do some calculations and studies using the accelerators. But, I've been in the field for a while now; when I was younger it was less meetings and more "science." But that's OK; that's how it works. I get to travel a lot around the country and the world, have 5 weeks of vacation a year (plus holidays, etc.), and get to work with the coolest equipment, meet top scientists in all kinds of fields, have flexible work hours -- and it's just plain fun for me (most of the time). Oh, and a typical scientist at my level at Fermilab makes between 85K and 170K; I'm in the middle of that range somewhere.
-Mike
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