LHC portal

Does anyone have an understanding of how the proton source works? I've seen pictures of hydrogen bottles on the linacs listed as the proton source, but I don't see how they extract the protons from the hydrogen.

The high voltage of the Duoplasmatron http://books.google.com/books?id=v9SoaC ... q=&f=falserips the electron off the hydrogen molecule leaving a single proton that is injected in to the PS .

Sphereix8 wrote:Does anyone have an understanding of how the proton source works? I've seen pictures of hydrogen bottles on the linacs listed as the proton source, but I don't see how they extract the protons from the hydrogen.

Hydrogen is a proton with an electron flying around it - nothing more (excluding the very rare isotopes, which also have a neutron or 2). So as Harbles said, rip iff the electrons and all you're left with is a bunch of free protons! Gaseous hydrogen (H2) will be broken up in this process, as it is the electrons forming the bond between atoms.

Does anyone know how (if?) they get rid of the 2H and 3H isotopes for those bottles? Though I assume they'd be unable to keep up with the main proton stream (due to extra mass), so it may not matter?

I'd expect most of the D2/T2 to have been removed before the gas was bottled, as these have uses elsewhere.

Eitherway, any stray D/T would probably be "left behind" as you said Danny. They won't follow the same curvature in a magnetic field either, so would impact against the sides of the beam tubes quite early on.

Wow Harbles.

You instantly found a book on the subject AND you used the word "Duoplasmatron" which is I think what powers all 1950's scifi movie space ships.. Or sure should have.

Harbles, thanks for the link, great read, question answered. Danny252, thanks captain obvious

Sphereix8 wrote:Harbles, thanks for the link, great read, question answered. Danny252, thanks captain obvious

You never know - some people think the LHC has electrons and antiprotons, never mind knowing what Hydrogen is!

You never know - some people think the LHC has electrons and antiprotons, never mind knowing what Hydrogen is!

Your right, it's good information for those that don't know, and this is a great place to learn it! MORE FREE KNOWLEDGE!!!!

If you have not wandered around the doc server, its like the ultimate in free knowledge..

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/

Thnx Xymox, now all of my free time is spoken for!

And this thread provokes the question.. yeah but what about lead ions?
LEIR
http://chanel.home.cern.ch/chanel/desig ... .final.pdf
What's an ECR? Electron sumthing sumthing that generates lead ions from a lump of lead.

*edit
Electron Cyclotron Resonance.
Who'd have thunk it. had to ask the Japanese to spell it out.
http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/ ... opc156.pdf

*edit2
Missed it on wiki 1st time around.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_c ... _resonance

Oh god....

there goes a few days of free time....