Hundreds of students walk through the Purdue Engineering Mall every day, many of which are fascinated by the engineering fountain. However, most are completely unaware of what is occurring beneath them; Purdue is actually housing a particle accelerator in a massive underground laboratory adjacent to the Engineering mall.
The particle accelerator is designed for use by the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory, or PRIME Lab, for the purpose of accelerator mass spectrometry, or AMS. Although a vast number of students have never heard about or visited the particle accelerator, it is actually shown on several tours to students interested in the EAPS department and can even be visited by students during its normal hours of operations. However, students are not allowed to use the accelerator for testing or research themselves, but they can request a sample to be tested through the use of a form located on the PRIME homepage. Additionally, there is a fee associated with having the sample tested. It is one of only two AMS research facilities capable of measuring the entire range of radionuclides, the other being CAMS, which is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Image taken from science.purdue.edu
The accelerator was built in 1989 at a cost of nearly four and a half million dollars. It also costs roughly five hundred thousand dollars a year to run the accelerator and perform all the testing. Additionally, the PRIME Lab covers a massive 31,000 square feet of area underground. Since its first successful test performed in 1991, the particle accelerator has been upgraded several times, including new acceleration tubing, a new charging system, a new analyzing magnet, and a new injector magnet. The large particle accelerator is a marvel to visit.
The particle accelerator and PRIME lab are another secret at Purdue that is kept beneath the feet of a location students visit daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment