I read the post title and imagined a ferret having it's skin melted like the scene int Raiders of the last ark. I was so wrong.
Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
21–30 of 42 posts
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#22What amazes me the most is that physicists managed to turn a ferret into a pig[0] and that they did it in 1971. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging
In French, the wire-like tool used by plumbers to unclog pipes is called a furet (ferret). Although it is not the proper term, cable pullers, used by electricians to pull wires into ducts may also be called furet.
Maybe a French physicist took the term literally.
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will certainly effect the ability to evacuate the piping as the organic material will outgas. I can also decompose from heating releasing more contaminates and ruin the experiment.
The ferret was used to run a string through the tube, which was then used to pull a cleaning swab.
I cant imagine something pulled by such a small animal can seal well enough to trap all the debris. The pigging method uses compressed air to generate a much higher force so a very tight seal can be made to ensure a clean scrub of the walls.
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ferret was used to run a string through the tube, which was then used to pull a cleaning swab.
I cant imagine something pulled by such a small animal can seal well enough to trap all the debris. The pigging method uses compressed air to generate a much higher force so a very tight seal can be made to ensure a clean scrub of the walls.
The ferret pulled the string. Technicians pulled the then ferretless string to move the cleaning plug.
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#25Early in my career I worked with a bunch of old school phone guys who told me they used to put a harness on a ferret, attached a fish tape, and sent the animal through a fairly long section of pipe in order to pull a 25-pair phone cable they were installing.
They literally "ferreted the pipe" and it was no big deal. There was a rhyme they used for remembering the correct sequence of the colored pairs too.
It wouldn't surprise me if one of the physicist's saw the phone guys doing this during construction.
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#26Couldn't they just use pressurized air?
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#27A Yorkshireman using a ferret to clean a particle accelerator sounds like something from a comedy sketch, to be honest.
Research into quantum silly walks.
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#28The same technique (ferret pulled wire) was used in the 19th Century to install electrical wiring in Cragside House (UK, Northumberland) without ripping up the antique wooden panelling
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#29Somebody wanted to unseat Schrodinger and the spherical cow for physics animal jokes.
Re: Why Physicists Tried to Put a Ferret in a Particle Accelerator
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ferret was used to run a string through the tube, which was then used to pull a cleaning swab.
I cant imagine something pulled by such a small animal can seal well enough to trap all the debris. The pigging method uses compressed air to generate a much higher force so a very tight seal can be made to ensure a clean scrub of the walls.
When they are determined, they are surprisingly strong animals. We had one pull a baby gate across our kitchen and living room because it liked the rubber stoppers and wanted to steal them.
Of course, the ferret was only pulling the string through the tube, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was capable of pulling the cleaning plug.