VanDeGraff
02-26-2003, 02:22 PM
She said " I agree. The problem with subatomic physics is that the language is so inacessible to the common man. We have no idea what some of this stuff means. Mega electron volts? Should I wonder how heavy that is, or how bad it will shock me? What does voltage have to do with mass? "
He said " I know volts are force, and force times mass is momentum, so if they want to state it's weight why not convert it? "
She smiled and said " The measurements must be too small. They'll never get just one proton on a balance scale. It is momentum isn't it? They accelerate these particles to find out their properties."
"Extract them from a reactor and accelerate them on a magnetic racetrack yeah. Then they measure the results of a collision in a detector." He told her. And the photon detectors too, sounds like a camera with a good pair of binoculars to me. "
She said " Well why don't they just say so? If you mean you're swinging a particle around a loop and letting it collide, then just tell me ' I threw it really hard , watched it splatter against a wall, and took pictures of it'. "
He smiled and laughed as they walked.
He said " I know volts are force, and force times mass is momentum, so if they want to state it's weight why not convert it? "
She smiled and said " The measurements must be too small. They'll never get just one proton on a balance scale. It is momentum isn't it? They accelerate these particles to find out their properties."
"Extract them from a reactor and accelerate them on a magnetic racetrack yeah. Then they measure the results of a collision in a detector." He told her. And the photon detectors too, sounds like a camera with a good pair of binoculars to me. "
She said " Well why don't they just say so? If you mean you're swinging a particle around a loop and letting it collide, then just tell me ' I threw it really hard , watched it splatter against a wall, and took pictures of it'. "
He smiled and laughed as they walked.