DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
General => Archive => Topic started by: Sigz on January 08, 2010, 07:50:20 PM
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https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/science/29train.html?_r=4&ref=science
During the holiday season, many people place toy trains on circular tracks beneath their Christmas trees.
This month, at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, physicists and engineers built tracks inside one of its fusion reactors and ran a toy train on them for three days.
It was not an exercise in silliness, but in calibration.
The modified model of a diesel train engine was carrying a small chunk of californium-252, a radioactive element that spews neutrons as it falls apart.
“We needed to refine the calibration technique to make sure we are measuring our neutrons as accurately as possible,” said Masa Ono, the project head of the National Spherical Torus Experiment.
The spherical torus experiment is a small reactor designed to test new approaches to fusion, in which hydrogen atoms are fused together at ultrahigh temperatures to produce energy — as the Sun does. Fusion generates copious numbers of neutrons, which tell how well the reaction is proceeding.
The reactor has been shut down for improvements, and the downtime provided an opportunity for recalibrating the neutron sensors.
A stationary neutron source was previously used for the calibration, but that did not fully capture how the neutrons bounced around. Putting the californium on the moving train improved the accuracy by about a factor of 10, Dr. Ono said. (The same technique had been used two decades earlier at one of Princeton laboratory’s older reactors.)
Experiments at the reactor are set to restart in March.
Californium is only slightly radioactive, so the toy train did not glow green after its ride in the fusion reactor. And now that it has completed its physics duties, the train, back in its original state, is running around the laboratory’s Christmas tree in the lobby.
(https://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/12/29/science/29train_CA0/popup.jpg)
Not sure why I posted this, I just found it funny/cool. *shrug*
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Looks like they're on the right track.
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I hope those guys have had the proper train-ing, or their experiment might run out of steam
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Those who came up with that had a real loco-motive.
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What made them choo-choo-choose a model train? Wouldn't a trained dog work just as well?
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What made them choo-choo-choose a model train? Wouldn't a trained dog work just as well?
I guess they're just model scientists
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That is a tender way of doing science.
rumborak
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Will there be any serious discussion or is this thread about to derail?
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Will there be any serious discussion or is this thread about to derail?
Well, how about you be more of a conductor of discussion?
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I have to at least congratulate them for getting the wheels in motion for future fusion experiments.
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Will there be any serious discussion or is this thread about to derail?
Well, how about you be more of a conductor of discussion?
I would if only I were more capable, I'm afraid I'm res-trained by a lack of worth-mentionable opinions.
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This thread does not disappoint. :lol
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This thread does not disappoint. :lol
Trust me, we've not run out of steam yet.
rumbora
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This thread does not disappoint. :lol
Trust me, we've not run out of steam yet.
rumbora
Yeah, so much it's a real freight.
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This thread does not disappoint. :lol
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
(https://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp146/ASRLG/ComboBreaker.jpg)
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ACCOUNT INACTIVE! :P
This thread does not disappoint. :lol
Trust me, we've not run out of steam yet.
rumbora
:lol Still keeping things on track I see.
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DTF: Derailing is our instinct.
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I'm afraid this will be the last contribution on my part, I lost track of the amount of possible puns on one subject.
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ACCOUNT INACTIVE! :P
This thread does not disappoint. :lol
Trust me, we've not run out of steam yet.
rumbora
:lol Still keeping things on track I see.
Nothing you can do about it; that train has left the station.
rumborak
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I'm sure we can keep it chugging along.
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Now that's the ticket.
rumborak
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All aboard is watching for more puns.
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:rollin :rollin :rollin
:tup
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Well, this thread got off-track pretty fast.
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You could say that we made a fast crossing.
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Seriously, this thread should be used as a model to train noobs in the ways of DTF Derailment By Puns.
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We've burnt up enough coal going off-topic, can we realign to the proper subject, please?
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Seriously, this thread should be used as a model to train noobs in the ways of DTF Derailment By Puns.
:clap:
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Seriously, this thread should be used as a model to train noobs in the ways of DTF Derailment By Puns.
(https://www.codekitchen.net/assets/0000/0013/keanu_whoa.jpg)
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We've burnt up enough coal going off-topic, can we realign to the proper subject, please?
Why can't you just be a model poster and stop feeding the fires?
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I'm amazed you guys haven't run out of steam after all these puns.
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We're just running on fumes now.
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So far it looks like this thread is a runaway hit.
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It's really become the little thread that could.
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Really, I'm surprised it's kept a-rollin' as well as it has.
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OK, to make this one for the archives, this reply right here should be the caboose. We are done. Fin.
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OK, to make this one for the archives, this reply right here should be the caboose. We are done. Fin.
Dammit, I've been planning on making a caboose joke but I was going to wait for the thread to die out.
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Looks like you missed your station.
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OK, to make this one for the archives, this reply right here should be the caboose. We are done. Fin.
Dammit, I've been planning on making a caboose joke but I was going to wait for the thread to die out.
Being on schedule is the ticket to good derailment.
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OK, to make this one for the archives, this reply right here should be the caboose. We are done. Fin.
Dammit, I've been planning on making a caboose joke but I was going to wait for the thread to die out.
Being on schedule is the ticket to good derailment.
Too forced. Sorry, but I think this is your stop.
rumborak
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:'(
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:'(
You lost your train of thought and went down the wrong track.
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Yeah, well screw you guys, I'm fucking flying.
You sure I still can't play? :caffeine:
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Pretty sure this is all just a platform for publicity.
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Yeah, well screw you guys, I'm fucking flying.
You sure I still can't play? :caffeine:
If this statement was a natural event, it would be a mis-carriage
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:| Train.
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(https://www.heyitsfree.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/grandpa-simpson.gif)
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Good pun Numbers.
OK, to make this one for the archives, this reply right here should be the caboose. We are done. Fin.
Dammit, I've been planning on making a caboose joke but I was going to wait for the thread to die out.
Being on schedule is the ticket to good derailment.
Too forced. Sorry, but I think this is your stop.
rumborak
Agreed. Seriously, much respect lonestar, but that was a trainwreck of a post.
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It seems I'm being railroaded outta here.
(is this how 73109 feels like all the time, damn)
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It's OK dude, you'll be outta that tunnel in no time. You cook amazing bacony things.
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James has a lot of esteem for you.
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:lol
You guys fucking kill me!!!
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James has a lot of esteem for you.
James makes me quite steamy.
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That's because I know how to ride your choo-choo.
:metardica:
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Enough! This thread has run out of steam. Pull the cord and side-track it into the archive.
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Enough! This thread has run out of steam. Pull the cord and side-track it into the archive.
I tried to caboose it there already DUDE.
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I concur. Time to decommission this before it derails again.
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Guess that makes me the Fat Controller.
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XJ, do your thing!
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I see this thread has departed from General Discussion Junction and made its way to Archive Station. :D