Day #6 Synchrotron Light Research Institute invasion!!! (Part 2/2)

Science adventures

I’m half recovered, I must complete this before get sick again!

Last time I’m very busy so I can’t add all full detail, now I will reveal everything in 2hr 45min at the awesome facility near my home!!

(Some part is copy from my note, some is from my memory.)

[N] 05/16/2014 AD 9.16 GMT+7

Day start with headache, still have more mission for me.

it’s time to move.

[10.30]

Arrived, first thing you can see is big building that look like made by glass.

OK, you can see how many awesome guys work here. Oh – long time ago, the older building look like…THIS.

This is only one synchrotron facility in Thailand. Many university here have SAXS or XRD but if you need powerful X-Ray beam for your analysis quality, you must come here.

For someone who really love particle accelerator, I want to know how they work, how to do something awesome and how they live in daily life. And this is the place that inspire me to make this blog!

I want to be the first person in target area so I running up stairs, forget everything include that I sick… so this is the result

Because the floor is slippy, friction hurt me!

I slip and everyone come to see me. I made my first “fall” on the front door!

Next, I have to find my professor when I’m in the experiment hall. I text him but nothing back, no internet connection on my phone. How can I forget about that!

This is my second fall.

I try to ask everyone I can but they look at me like – “Who are you? How you know this guy?”

WTF…I can’t lost this chance to talk with real physicist!! Someone help me!!!

No internet connection, no one answer me where I can meet my professor and very sick. What a bad day…

I think I’m going to resign, but statistically – You can not have only bad thing in all day!

I use my facebook to talk to my professor, so he don’t know my real name, everything end up like this…

My professor appeared!

He look at my group…

and

.

.

.

Everyone starring at me, I tell them nothing about this! (I guess I will go to meet him after Experiment hall touring)

Stop looking at me like that,please…

He ask me that I want to look everything in Experiment hall and go to his office after finish or go to his office now, I choose choice 1.

In the Experiment hall is very cold, or I think it is.

Real beamline look like a lump of metal and foil, tangled wired and look very not interesting for other people. Some of them is lock up in radiation proof  room, no lab coat guys here.

This is my reaction to these beamline.

Many people shock when they see my picture I take with particle accelerator and beamlines then said it radiation or it dangerous, I could say they really misunderstand everything!

Normal people get average 2.5 mSv (Sv – Sievert – Unit of radiation absorption) per year. We call this “Background radiation” because it is a radiation from environment, from carbon-14 that you breath it in and out, or eat it everyday, from building materials, from ground, from Radon and Thoron, from nature. Some radiation you all get is from medical, example – chest X-ray. You can read more about background radiation here.

OK. Then, why I say everyone misunderstand? First, before we enter experiment hall, they warn us to stay in line (Green line of visitor area), do not eat or drink in experiment hall (or you will get a chance to eat radioactive dust that land on your food/drink, if you want), etc. to keep us from absorb any radiation as much as they can.

Experiment hall tour finish, my classmate go away. It’s time to move!

This is what I think I do…

I’m agent Sine, I’m in target area and ready to break into control room! El Psy Congroo

No, I never do something like that. It just what I think I feel like!

Then, this is what I feel like when waiting for my professor…and what I actually do

No, I’m not that intelligent, and I’m not that evil… I just standing and wait…

Many people say

“If you see what your future work actually look like, you will change your mind”

but it NOT, I born to be this!

I don’t know how to explain what it look like inside control room (and I forget to take any picture)

It look like a control room in many movie, but don’t have a control panel with many switch. Many monitor show machine status or a graph. Also have real-time status online but it much more interesting to see a real control room!

Actually, many particle accelerator status have real-time status online. You can use a link I give below, it’s free and don’t have to log in or register!

Large Hadron Collider – CERN (Acceleraor Active/Realtime status Active)

http://meltronx.com/ (All)

http://op-webtools.web.cern.ch/op-webtools/vistar/vistars.php (All)

http://www.lhcportal.com/ (All)

http://cmsdoc.cern.ch/cmscc/cmstv/cmstv.jsp?channel=4 (CMS)

Tevatron – Fermilab (Accelerator shut down/Realtime Status Active)

http://www-bd.fnal.gov/notifyservlet/www?project=outside (All)

Siam Photon Source – Synchrotron Light Research Institute

http://accelerator.slri.or.th/machine-status/ (Machine Status)

http://accelerator.slri.or.th/machine-status/mobile/live-camera-1.php (Control room live camera)

First step into control room, It’s a trap! Control room floor is something look like made of thick cardboard, or something like that. It can slightly bent and you can pull it from the floor to do something with tangled wire under your feet.

No, I’m not falling into a lump of wire, but I feel like I fall when it bent. I hate very high place so it make me feel unsafe a little bit.

When I start walking around I can see many thing interesting, and I know what I want to do now! Particle accelerator engineer, act cool and stay late. Just kidding, they keep accelerator running 24/7 and solve every problem that able to appear in every minute! But Its look cool too 😀

Many particle accelerator control room feature is emergency beam dump switch, big red switch for dump particle beam in emergency circumstance. Example is earthquake. But many people really want to bump this switch with no reason!!

Maybe it’s an XM influence, I want to press that switch too but I don’t want to being kill by a group of angry engineer/physicist and buried at the basement of the building. It’s would be my worst end of my life!!

I can say that control room really small, messy and noisy. 2 machine operator per shift but this time I see 8 people in this room, 6 more people – exclude me.

Many particle accelerator facility have complex security system to make sure that everyone must be safe and stay outside radiation area before run the accelerator. When particle accelerator is not working, it safe to be there but when the machine operating it produce some radiation that could kill people.

This is combination of 3 things you need – Key, Access card and machine operator. If all key is not at its place, access carn not in a slot, you’re somewhere in the world but not control room. You can’t run the accelerator.

That also a 3 things you need to enter accelerator area. Agent Sine,that’s hard mission. Isn’t it?

Then,

IT’S TIME TO MOVE !!

Welcome to another world~~~~~~~~!!!

Freak’in annoying sound!!!

Accelerator is shut down so it’s a sound of pump and motor, I bet you that sound can drive someone insane!

Tangled wire everywhere, messy as same as my desk. 😛

Very very cold inside, or I’m sick…Nevermind it. Prepare your jacket before enter because this room have very low temperature for keep accelerator running well.

This machine is cooling with deionized water, a very very pure water that have no ion, mineral and nonconductive. I wonder how it taste like but not dare to ask, also not dare enough to drink it.

give me 30 millisec for shocking, then start walking around and try to make a mess.

It really look not interesting but guess what is it? Surely, more than 90% of people who answer is WRONG !!!

(Answer will be post when I complete this article)

…To be continue…

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