Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: jeffreyH on 17/07/2017 18:58:53

Title: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: jeffreyH on 17/07/2017 18:58:53
What do you think?
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: paulggriffiths on 17/07/2017 19:08:41
Only if you have some new super fast transistor we don't know about to switch each electromagnet on going around.
Or build yourself an alternator spinning near the speed of light.
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: timey on 17/07/2017 19:29:27
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/18/excitement-grows-over-large-hadron-colliders-possible-new-particle-lhc

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/physicists-detect-whiff-new-particle-large-hadron-collider

Would it require mini particles?  (chuckle)

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:link 1
Alternatively, it could mean the Higgs itself is made up of a bunch of smaller particles.

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:link 2
For decades, particle physicists have yearned for physics beyond their tried-and-true standard model. Now, they are finding signs of something unexpected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s biggest atom smasher at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. The hints come not from the LHC’s two large detectors, which have yielded no new particles since they bagged the last missing piece of the standard model, the Higgs boson, in 2012, but from a smaller detector, called LHCb, that precisely measures the decays of familiar particles.
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: jeffreyH on 17/07/2017 19:58:43
Only if you have some new super fast transistor we don't know about to switch each electromagnet on going around.
Or build yourself an alternator spinning near the speed of light.

Both would be useful.  ;D
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: timey on 17/07/2017 20:05:08
How would you power it?  I just can't see a regular electric extension cord from house to garden shed coping.
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: chiralSPO on 17/07/2017 20:25:53
Yes. Totally doable. Not easy, but nothing impossible about building a small cyclotron or linear accelerator.

Michio Kaku built one for his high school science fair: https://www.quora.com/How-did-Michio-Kaku-construct-a-particle-accelerator-in-his-garage-Additionally-how-long-did-it-take

 
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: Bored chemist on 17/07/2017 20:29:23
It kind of depends what you mean by a particle accelerator.
You could get one of these
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube
and crank up the voltage.
Or, with a big shed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betatron
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: jeffreyH on 17/07/2017 20:34:24
It kind of depends what you mean by a particle accelerator.
You could get one of these
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube
and crank up the voltage.
Or, with a big shed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betatron


It's the 4 ton magnet that puts me off the idea. Not cheap.
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: jeffreyH on 17/07/2017 20:36:40
My wife has just suggested making it out of Lego. She was joking as far as I can tell.
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: evan_au on 17/07/2017 21:23:12
Here are some projects aiming to produce a particle accelerator on a chip, perhaps powered by an optical fiber:
See: http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/devices/nanofabrication-enables-acceleratoronachip-technology
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: Tomassci on 14/08/2017 14:02:58
If you have huge garden...
You can.
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: alancalverd on 14/08/2017 14:30:16
Van de Graaff generators are easy to build in a garden shed and a lot of fun. You can probably get a 200 keV electrostatic electron accelerator to work in a small shed but once you go much above this voltage you will have problems with corona discharge and it's probably cheaper to buy a 400 - 2,000 keV machine with gas insulation than make one from scratch.

You need to be a good glass blower to make a betatron tube but they are available on the open market - there used to be a good range of Russian tubes at a sensible price and the magnet and electronics are not beyond a skilled amateur's capability.

Accelerating heavier particles is hard work, though you can use the VdG principle for protons but the ion source is a bit of a challenge. That said, of course, all laboratory equipment was orginally made by some bloke in shed, so why not have a go?   
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: chris on 15/08/2017 07:01:44
Isn't an old-fashioned television set a particle accelerator? If so, then I know quite a few people who have installed particle accelerators in their potting sheds to provide background stimulation (known as watching the match) while they are "gardening"...
Title: Re: Could you build a mini particle accelerator in a garden shed?
Post by: jeffreyH on 15/08/2017 17:47:41
Step 1 Build or buy a Van de Graff generator.
http://vibgyor2u.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/van-de-graaff-generator-its.html?m=1