Can I interest you in a large magnet?

[eppur_se_muova]

A major milestone was reached in commissioning the ATLAS detector on 9 November 2006 when the barrel toroid magnets were successfully powered to their full operational current of 20.5kA.

Thereafter a test was performed by introducing a quench by stopping the current leads cooling and the toroid safety system switched off the current and dumped the stored energy of 1.1GJ safely into the cold mass by which its temperature went up to about 55 degrees Kelvin.

In conclusion the ATLAS Barrel Toroid reached its nominal operating conditions at first cool down and without training and even a bit more. ATLAS has its barrel toroids ready for physics!.

http://atlasexperiment.org/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061121-giant-magnet.html

The maximum magnetic field produced is "only" 3.9 T (39 kgauss), but extends over a huge volume -- hence the enormous amount of energy involved.

[Dead_Parrot]

1. What we really need to know is...

...How many paper clips can it pick up? And does it have one of those telescopic handles so you can get your keys out of a drain? :silly:

[phantom power]

5. How many paper-clips?

All of them.

[DesertRat]

2. Is this the one from the TV show "Lost"?

:crazy:

[acmejack]

3. Big fellow!

Tesla would smile.

[Monkeyman]

4. Dam now Bush can get his zipper down

[sakabatou]

6. For the not so educated, how powerful is this thing?

A comparrison to Earth or another celestial body would be nice.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I believe Earth's field is about 0.5 Gauss. This is 39,000 Gauss.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field :

The strength of the field at the Earth's surface ranges from less than 30 microteslas (0.3 gauss) in an area including most of South America and South Africa to over 60 microteslas (0.6 gauss) around the magnetic poles in northern Canada and south of Australia, and in part of Siberia.

[sakabatou]

8. Jeebus!

[seriousstan]

9. Put into perspective....fridge magnet 50-100 gauss , MRI 15,000gauss

It's not the power of the field that is impressive, it is the size of the field.

[sakabatou]

10. I know

Once heard the Jupiters field could kill you if you went to close to it.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. For really intense fields try here:

http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/news/pressreleases/2006october19.html

10/3/2006 Contact: Alex Lacerda, [phone],

"The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory’s eagerly awaited 100 Tesla Multi-Shot magnet is now commissioned for user operation at 85 tesla. Located at the Magnet Lab’s Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the magnet opens up new frontiers for scientific research."

85 T = 850,000 Gauss

[Phoonzang]

12. I really want to know what would happen..

..to that guy if they powered up the system. I imagine that it would be something magical.

By magical I mean horrible screaming death.

[Nihil]

13. I hear strains of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" in the background ...

...
He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he traveled time
For the future of mankind
...

:-)

[Wilber_Stool]

15. Missed my edit time.

Had to do something constructive. Pic and link:



An object does not need to be superconducting to levitate. Normal things, even humans, can do it as well, if placed in a strong magnetic field. Although the majority of ordinary materials, such as wood or plastic, seem to be non-magnetic, they, too, expel a very small portion (0.00001) of an applied magnetic field, i.e. exhibit very weak diamagnetism. Such materials can be levitated using magnetic fields of about 10 Tesla. Click on the title to find the explanation as well as movies, photographs and a funny letter worthwhile reading.

http://www.hfml.ru.nl/levitate.html

[Wilber_Stool]

14. He just might float.

Well, not really, but small things like spiders and frogs do.

[Ready4Change]

16. What about things like tooth fillings?

.