this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
810 points (98.4% liked)

science

15022 readers
105 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

<--- rules currently under construction, see current pinned post.

2024-11-11

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

48 seconds. I predict a glut of helium. balloons for everyone

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

They use liquid helium to cool the super magnets...

[–] Strykker@programming.dev 17 points 8 months ago

Sure, but they don't consume it, and let it just boil off. They have massive refrigerant setups to bring it down to temp and keep it there.

[–] HornyOnMain@fedia.io 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, but why does that mean they must be losing the helium each time? I don't know anything about liquid helium and super conductors, but I know I don't need to replace my radiator fluid just because it cooled my engine.

[–] n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Once used, it need to be cooled down to -252c to be reused. Not like a closed loop of oil

[–] HornyOnMain@fedia.io 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Alright, did some research, first off you're wrong about this being the reason even if this was a plausible reason. The real reason is the ash and heat divertors failed.

Second, you don't even need liquid helium for super conduction. Here's a few closed loop helium gas coolers that get to 10 kelvin. They need to be refilled on the scale of years, not from a single test.

https://www.arscryo.com/closed-cycle-cryocoolers https://stirlingcryogenics.com/products/closed-loop-helium-gas-cooling-system/

I get you care deeply about helium loss but this is the last thing you should be accidentally spreading misinformation about. This process literally creates more helium then it uses.