#Superconducting Super Collider

[unbfacts]

[duckiewashere]

Alternate s1-s2 ish Jon design attempt from class

Dont ask me what this means I dont know either I was zoned the fuck out and listening to a 3 hour youtube documentary about the SSC (The Superconducting Super Collider. Yes I will yap about it. Dont get me fucking started)

[transhuman-priestess]

I watched 2/5ths of Bobby Broccoli’s video on the Superconducting Super Collider and the phrase “I am going to become nonlinear” has now ruined my vocabulary

[materialsscienceandengineering]

If you haven't done this already, could you do a post on the Superconducting Super Collider?

I have not done this already, and I certainly can! Is there anything in particular you were interested in? Most information about it is largely economic and political factors, considering it never actually got built, but there are some materials science adjacent facts I could discuss (another anon message is fine!).

For those not aware: The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) was a planned particle accelerator in the United States, meant to be bigger than any of the other existing particle accelerators. It did move far enough along in its development that construction was started, but the project was ultimately canceled.

You can ready more about it on the Wikipedia page, or here's 3 hours of video talking about it on YouTube.

[frakyee]

We should have built the Superconducting Super Collider, and we would need to keep building particle colliders /j

me being normal about particle colliders again

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Science and political will. ::  December 14, 2022 ::  Robert B. Hubbell

Announcement regarding “ignition” in nuclear fusion experiment.

         As expected, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced that the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Berkeley, California, achieved “ignition” in a nuclear fusion reaction. In an experiment last week, the NIF used 192 lasers to deliver 2.05 megajoules of energy to produce 3.15 megajoules of energy—a 54% net energy gain. See Nature, Nuclear-fusion lab achieves ‘ignition’: what does it mean?

         The accomplishment is the first time nuclear fusion “ignition” has been achieved in a laboratory and is a remarkable feat. The “proof of concept” suggests that the half-century quest to produce clean energy from nuclear fusion is theoretically possible. Although monumental engineering challenges must be overcome to harness nuclear fusion for commercial use, the promise of limitless, carbon-free energy could shape our future in profound ways.

         How powerful are fusion reactions? Very. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers both the sun and hydrogen bombs—neither of which represents a contained and controllable release of energy. Indeed, the fusion process in a hydrogen bomb is initiated by exploding a fission-based “atomic bomb” to create the intense heat and pressure necessary to kick-start the fusion process of the hydrogen bomb. That fact explains why the National Ignition Facility was the site of the first successful nuclear fusion ignition. The NIF is a defense lab that studies thermonuclear explosions for the US military.

         The NIF’s role in the search for controlled nuclear fusion has been controversial, not just because of its military mission. NIF’s research cost US taxpayers billions of dollars and suffered through a decade of delay and disappointment. Despite doubters and critics, the NIF received the necessary funding to continue its research. The political will to support the research despite scientific setbacks and cost overruns is an important part of the achievement announced on Tuesday.

         US politicians have not always demonstrated the will and foresight to make long-term investments in our future. In the early 1980s, US scientists proposed the construction of the Superconducting Super Collider, a nuclear accelerator that was multiple times larger and more powerful than the planned superconductor at CERN (in Switzerland). The project was bold and ambitious but was plagued by cost overruns and management difficulties. When a first-year class of Newt Gingrich allies swept into Congress in 1993, they “no longer accorded big science the prestige it enjoyed during the cold war, and their opposition proved overwhelming.”  See Scientific American, The Supercollider That Never Was. The US supercollider was shut down in 1994 when it was only 20% complete.

         The loss of the superconducting supercollider shifted the focus of high-energy physics research to Europe. The Higgs boson was discovered at CERN in 2012. Most experts believe it would have been found by the US supercollider a decade earlier. But as one commentator observed,

in contrast to majestic projects like the space shuttle missions or the contemporary International Space Station, [the supercollider] couldn’t readily offer any consequences of its science. You can see images from a space station, see a rocket propel from the Earth. You cannot see a beam of protons collide, nor the particles which that collision reveals.

         Thus, the willingness of Congress and multiple administrations to continue financial support for basic research at NIF to prove the feasibility of nuclear fusion is a political achievement that should not be taken for granted.

         As a coda, I note that Ron DeSantis is following in the footsteps of the short-sighted and cynical congressional representatives in the Class of 1993. On Tuesday, DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court to authorize a grand jury to investigate “any and all wrongdoing” relating to the manufacture or distribution of Covid vaccines in Florida. See CNN Politics, DeSantis targets Covid vaccine manufacturers and CDC in latest anti-vaccine moves.

At the moment, DeSantis does not claim any actual wrongful conduct. Instead, he wants subpoena power to muck around in CDC and pharma company emails and research databases. It is a cynical, ignorant, and possibly deadly move. He will encourage conspiracy theorists to refuse life-saving treatment. But he is willing to risk the lives of millions of Americans to promote his political ambitions. He is a dangerous man.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[quarkylife]

I read an article by Ceri Perkins for Sciencefocus.com about CERN!! 'CERN: Everything you need to know' published June 2022.

The things which stood out to me were:

CERN was established in 1954 to prevent the brain drain of European scientists leaving for America, which I think has worked well since over 10,000 scientists work there and is quite famous and is in pop culture - e.g Steins Gate

In 1983 W and Z bosons were discovered at CERN

Tim Berner Lee helped create the world wide web at CERN in 1983, something which has greatly changed all of our lives!!

Anti hydrogen was created!?!? Hydrogens anyiparticle?? Tho I'm not entirely sure what this is ToT I guess it's just an antiproton and an antineutron with an antielectron?!?! Imma have to look it up ;-;

QUARK GLUON PLASMA!?!?! WHATS THIS!?!? A NEW STATE OF MATTER NAMED AFTER MY BOYS QUARKS!?!?

Also the particle collider itself is created by superconducting magnets!! And they're cooled to -271.3°c so about 10K ish....you know what super conductors are!?? They're conductors which are cooled below a critical/ transition temperature where the conductor gains a resistance of zero!! Its verrry efficient!! Hence why it's used here!! However its verrry expensive so the real question is whether its cheaper to use super conductors or to have resistance? But with superconductors the current could effectively move forever and the energy transfers would be 100% efficient but the cost of cooling it?? What do you think?

[jvhnmitchell]

ty for the tag!!

(sorry if ppl got a double tag on this tumblr completely fucked up my first attempt)

favourite colour: if you know my main this one's easy lmfao. red and black!

currently reading: Tunnel Visions: The Rise and Fall of the Superconducting Super Collider. And by reading I mean it sits on my table and taunts me. But spiritually I am learning abt super colliders...

last song: Bloody Kiss by Latefallen! Everyone go listen to latefallen right now this is not a request

last film: the real answer is my roomates forced me to watch Raya and the last dragon but i think before that was Final Destination 2? Idk most of my watch time has been taken up by snapcube's deltarune streams

sweet/salty/savoury: definitely savory I can't do much sweet at all

last series: always assume the answer for me is being human uk I am in a constant state of rewatch. But otherwise I just finished a gravity falls rewatch as well! Buffy's up next I think

tea or coffee: Sweet iced tea is the single best thing on earth and I will die on this hill im made of like 80% sweet tea by this point

working on: i found some alpaca wool blend yarn at the thrift??? so i've been trying to find a nice pattern to use it with. also in a perpetual state of working-not working on my novel bc who isn't

tagging: uhhh @decompdaddy @fakecannibal @annabelle--cane and whoever else wants to do it I suppose!

nine people i wish i knew better (tag game!)

i was tagged by @120daysofsalo 🌟

favourite colour: it fluctuates often, but i've been drawn back to baby blue and eye-searing pink the most over time

currently reading: best gay erotica of 1998 (anthology). so far, some of them are electric and others... well 🤷

last song: Secrecy Is Incredibly Important To The Both of Them- Yves Tumor

last film: Big Eden (2000), rom-com drama. Henry returns to his small hometown to care for his grandpa, ends up caught between his feelings for his childhood crush Dean, and the general store owner, Pike. Lovely film 💜

sweet/salty/savoury: i think these three work best in tandem ^^; i like putting salt on my watermelon, honey on grilled cheese, savoury bubble tea, etc. forced to pick at knifepoint though- savoury.

last series: Stripperella

tea or coffee: tea (Bengal Spice and Russian Caravan are eternal favourites :3 )

working on: finishing up my website, a tiny figurine sculpt, and several short stories 🎉✨

i tag: @augustdementhe @bccamplight @misanthropicvampire @shrodingersboobs @femboydraculaura @corvid-shmorvid @captain-habit @makeshiftqueer @ananarchie

[jellobiafrasays]

Siting the Superconducting Super Collider (1988)

Demonstrating that Big Science is intricately linked to national prestige building more than anything else, the Superconducting Super Collider was canceled in 1993 because the Cold War was over and we didn't need to prove that Our System was the best any more

[passioninblue]

the superconducting super collider has been closed forever because a president threw up

[3liza]

they actually tested this at the Superconducting Super Collider in 1998 and what they found was that test subjects they exposed to the ametrine-mediated light projection became bisexual

you guys hear about ametrine?

[babywitchofthesouth-responds]

Plz read this thing i found about the band Letters VS. Numbers

This isn't my usual type of post on here but I NEEDED to tell someone about my detective work for this cryptid band. And trust me when i say this shit gets WEIRD.

So there's this band called Letters VS. Numbers, they're super underground and anonymous, were pretty active around 2011 then were quiet for a while and everyone thought they were a dead band. Greats songs tho.

Anyway, in 2020 they released some more singles and put them on Spotify (bangers, go listen to them).

I wanted to see if i could buy an old album on theirs, but they don't sell anywhere. Looked through some youtube comments and there are people distributing google drive links with digital copies of the earlier songs from when they used to be on iTunes.

Then I found this page: https://bandsoftheweek.blogspot.com/

They only have one post, and it's about Letters VS. Numbers. And lucky me, it provided LINKS to their old social media accounts (seriously old, MySpace era). These links are broken now, but i'm a cool hacker person and used the Wayback Machine to view the pages.

And it was awesome.

From what i put together on Word, it looked something like this:

That shape jpg in the middle was titled Ennegram, btw.

LINKS:

Travel Log (also 'online travel log')

Mythologies

Bone Tired (1)

Click here

Bone Tired (2)

MySpace

Now i bet youre wonding what i found on the paypal link

Yes. the link is ACTIVE!! It's $7 (USD) for the Bone Tired album, which was a limited edition print BECAUSE of the travel log idea they made.

SO pretty much Letters VS. Numbers created this album in where people copy it to their computers, write their names on it, and add their names to a Google maps list (look at Travel Log link) so you can see where everyone is who's ever had a copy. Then you pass the album to someone else and the cycle continues.

But I havent actually tried purchasing it cuz im a little spooked by what i found next.

At the bottom of the PayPal page, there was a link saying Cancel and return to Letters VS. Numbers. I clicked it and it took me to a page that looked like this.

I have no idea what that diagram is.

But when you hover over different portions of it, it links to these pages:

https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/03/15/hadron-collider-time-machine/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-supercollider-that-never-was/

https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider

https://businessfacilities.com/2013/08/magnablend-reopens-former-superconducting-super-collider-facility-in-waxahachie-tx/

Uhhhhhhhhh. what????? Time machines?

THEN i clicked on the little 'LVN' underneath the diagram. And it took me to another Letters VS. Numbers page called 'the seven'.

The only thing i could click was the letter I.

Which took me to this really weird page called "The Truth About the Desertron". about a particle accelerator... called the Superconducting Super Collider... in texas...

Then i decided that was enough for me, i spent 4 hours researching this shit when i have three exams to study for and now i've gotta hope the american government doesnt try to kill me while i sleep.

[andrewmnyard]

share your niche conspiracies...... here’s my favorite: bill clinton shut down the construction of the superconducting super collider (huge particle accelerator being built in tx during the 80s) because aliens told him that it would disrupt their travel and threatened him if he didn’t

[transdonaldduck]

pkgyro 15

things you said with too many miles between us

“I’m going away, out of town, for a little while.” Gyro says, bent over another invention, “There’s this job opportunity a few states over, work on a new superconducting super collider, I want to check it out.”

DA stills carefully, sitting cross legged on the floor and playing cards with little helper, “...How long will you be gone?”

“It depends,” He admits, carefully tightening a bolt instead of looking at his good friend, “On wether or not I actually get the job, and decide to take it.” Tell me to stay, he thinks loudly, tell me you want me to stay.

DA just nods, “It sounds like... a really good opportunity.” He says finally, voice controlled and strange, turned just enough that when Gyro finally decides to look at him, he can’t make out his expression.

“Okay.” Gyro says, dissappointed and berating himself for it. two days later he’s gone.

the phone rings in his hotel room. it’s a nice place, the man financing the project had put him and a few other genius scientist up at a luxry hotel on his own dime, a bid to get them to commit to the project. he’s been here almost two weeks and all his free time has been consumed by working out the logistics and seeing the local sights. he picks it up without thinking about it, half expecting the front desk to be on the line about the noise he was making- still inventing, of course. he missed the spaciousness of his lab dearly, and the freedom to built what he liked most of all.

“Hey.” Duck Avenger says softly, over the line, and Gyro drops the wrench he was holding.

“Hey, is something wrong?” He jumps past the pleasantries, worried about why the man would get in touch with him if not about a problem.

“Nothing’s wrong.” He laughs, but it sounds forced.

He sinks down onto his bed, frowning, “Your tone tells me otherwise.”

there’s a long pause, “...Could you do me a favor?” DA says finally, voice barely above a whisper.

“Of course.” gyro answers automatically, voice softening to match.

“Would you come home?” He whispers, “I’m sorry, I wanted to ask you to stay but it felt so selfish, but i miss you and my resolve finally gave out, and I think I’m a little in love with you.” he sounds actually contrite.

Gyro laughs, its a breathless thing, exhileration humming beneath his sternum at his confession, “You love me? I love you! I never thought-” He realizes he’s almost shouting and laughs again, bringing his volume back down to earth, “I never thought you could ever return my feelings! Yes, i’ll come home, I promise!”

“Seriously!?” DA squwawks into the phone, “We’ve been in love this whole time and never said anything? argh, i wish you weren’t so far away! I would really like to kiss you!”

he giggles, throwing himself back on the bed, smiling up at the ceiling, “Well, i’ll be home soon! I just have to talk to the head scientist here and give my resignation. I didn’t much like this job anyway.”

“I’ll see you the moment you come back, okay? I love you!”

"I love you too!” Gyro breathes, holding the phone close as they talk deep into the night.

[eightlivs]

27 February 2019

I know I already put in a report today, but we had something weird happen.

That, and I may need to revise the statement about nobody getting hit with the beam. Maybe. Possibly. It might’ve been a dream. I was running on mostly coffee and two hours of sleep and I was the only one there, so I can’t ask anyone else to corroborate.

ANYWAY. One of the magnets - which should be offline - ended up sustaining a very sudden and very alarming quench event.

The magnets that accelerate particles have to be SUPER effective, so they’re cooled to ridiculously low temperatures until they start to act like superconductors. This involves a pretty fancy system and a lot of coolant (liquid helium, in our case). When the magnet abruptly loses its superconducting state and goes back to being a regular magnet, it’s called a quench, and it’s fucking LOUD, and vapor from the cryogenic helium goes everywhere. So yeah, it scared the shit out of everyone and one dude nearly fell off the scaffolding.

I would REALLY like it if I didn’t have to be going through my poor collider trying to pick up multidimensional shrapnel out of all the sensors and beam pipe and accelerator funnels and every INCH of this thing I’ve spent YEARS of my life on!

At least the emergency shutoffs for the magnets still work. It would be nice if we had something like that “element zero” from Mass Effect, you know? We could literally just toss stuff down to the ground teams. But it doesn’t exist in this reality.

Or, well, I guess it does, just not the way it does in ME. Two contenders, actually. The Higgs boson, and neutronium. Well, neutron-degenerate matter, that is. That’s a material comprised solely of neutrons, but it really only exists in the cores of neutron stars, and honestly, nobody knows for sure what they’re made of, lol.

And then we’ve got my favorite, the Higgs boson, which gives some other bosons mass through a process known as the Higgs mechanism.

Oh, another one for the Physicists Can’t Name Shit list: some fool idiotically nicknamed the Higgs boson the “god particle.” For absolutely no reason. Even the dude the boson is named after - Peter Higgs - doesn’t like that name.

Anyway, the Higgs boson is probably the closest, but it isn’t going to randomly start handing out mass to random particles.

Footnotes: Superconductors have zero electrical resistance! Pretty damn efficient, and they’re not just used in colliders, but also MRI machines and fusion reactors. A sudden loss of this superconductivity results in a “quench” and the magnet goes back into its normal resistive state. As Liv mentioned, it’s LOUD, but actually interesting/fun to watch!

And then, the Higgs boson. It’s… uh… some dense quantum physics that gives rise to this, but the Higgs boson, along with the Higgs mechanism (which has a few other names, including - yes, seriously - the “ABEGHHK'tH mechanism”), gives W and Z bosons mass, which in turn mediate the “weak nuclear force” - which includes things like radioactive decay.