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- Newsgroups: sci.physics.fusion
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!pacbell.com!tandem!zorch!fusion
- From: blue@nscl01.nscl.msu.edu
- Subject: The human body as a detector for Brightsen-Mallove
- Message-ID: <0095FAB5.E7964FA0.14491@dancer.nscl.msu.edu>
- Sender: scott@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Scott Hazen Mueller)
- Reply-To: blue@nscl01.nscl.msu.edu
- Organization: Sci.physics.fusion/Mail Gateway
- Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 15:44:10 GMT
- Lines: 20
-
- The notion that GeV 3He particles will escape undetected is so far
- out I can't resist ranting on a bit more. First of all the arguement
- by analogy to cosmic rays is totally off base. The nucleon component
- of cosmic rays interacts far up in the earths atmosphere such that
- all that reaches us (Thank goodness for small favors!) are secondary
- reaction products, mostly muons, which are puny little things compared
- to a 3He with a GeV of kinetic energy. Even though the range of
- 3He is larger than the dimensions of a typical calorimeter, these
- things will interact in a big way with any substantial chunk of matter
- such as concrete. Lets say you had 10^5 3He at a Gev moving upward
- from a basement lab a stricking the overhead concrete. The result
- would be a flux of 10^5 neutrons, also at GeV energies radiating
- people upstairs. For reference purposes, a flux of 1 neutron per
- cm^2 per second, is the order of magnitude of what is "allowed".
- Maybe the cold fusion experimenters would be too dim to notice
- anything happening, but their near neighbors might begin to notice
- some strange effects.
-
- Dick Blue
- NSCL @ MSU
-