2023-08-04 10:36:26
A few decades ago, when laboratory maintenance regulations were not as strict as they are today, Fermilab in the United States proposed a method of cleaning particle accelerators in 1971: put a ferret into the accelerator pipe and let it pull the magnet Remove fine scrap metal shavings remaining in the tube.
In February 1971, the US National Accelerator Laboratory (now Fermilab) was testing the most advanced and largest new machine in the world at that time, which took 5 years and 250 million US dollars to build: a megaelectron volt accelerator, whose power was that of Europe at that time. Seven times higher than any other accelerator, this is by far the second highest energy particle accelerator in the world.
Particle accelerators use electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles along tubes, moving them almost as fast as the speed of light. These particles collide with other particles and break down into subatomic particles, revealing information regarding the nature of matter.
But scientists soon ran into a puzzling problem with the MeV accelerator: Magnets critical to the accelerator’s operation kept failing, and physicists replaced 350 of the 13-ton magnets for the machine in seven months , each time they hit the particle with a lot of energy, the magnet wobbled and caused a short circuit.
Later, scientists discovered that the problem was that a small amount of metal accumulated in the accelerator vacuum tubes during the construction process. The worst part is that these tubes are only a tennis ball wide. Clearing metal contamination in such a small space is obviously an unimaginable challenge.
At this time, British physicist Robert Sheldon thought of a clever method: using ferrets.
Cleaners entering a particle accelerator
This kind of animal has a slender body and likes to enter the cave to chase rabbits and force them out of the nest. In some areas, this characteristic of ferrets is used to hunt rabbits; for ferrets, they will run into the stainless steel pipe without hesitation. Whether or not this pipe has an end.
So Wally Pelczarski, the designer of the main accelerator ring, contacted a farm and bought a ferret named Felicia for $35. It is very small, only 38 cm long (the average ferret body length is 51 cm), which is very suitable for into the accelerator pipeline.
▲ Felicia cleans the ducts of a particle accelerator. (Source:Fermilab）
Scientists put Felicia in a diaper (to prevent another kind of pollution from ferret excretion) and a leather harness with a rope attached to the end. The end of the rope was tied with a cotton swab soaked in cleaning solution, and Felicia walked through the 90-meter-long dark pipe , every time it finishes a run, it will be rewarded with its favorite chicken, liver, fish head, hamburger meat, etc., and the staff at the other end will pull the rope back to remove debris.
After 10 trips like this, Felicia retired under the favor of the scientist. Later, the engineer Hans Kautzky developed another new solution, connecting the mylar coil to a flexible cable, and then compressed air to push the cable through the pipe To achieve the purpose of cleaning.
While it turns out that the magnets failed for many reasons, and metal fines were not the culprit, scientists will always remember the time when a baby ferret got inside the particle accelerator tube.
(Source of the first image:Fermilab）
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