WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.440 in my hand right now i'm carrying what's called a dosimeter and it's a tool for 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:11.440 measuring radiation why do i need a dosimeter well 00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:14.880 although there shouldn't be any significant radiation where we're about 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:19.439 to go there could be because we're here at 00:00:17.279 --> 00:00:23.920 triumph the particle acceleration laboratory here in british columbia 00:00:21.279 --> 00:00:28.240 canada that houses the world's largest cyclotron and 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:33.440 soon the world's most powerful linear electron accelerator of its kind 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:35.520 and what do they do here oh just casual 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:40.559 things you know like advancing the fields of physics medicine material 00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:43.200 science and much much more so 00:00:40.559 --> 00:00:49.200 without further ado let's head inside and talk about how 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:51.760 they accelerate particles to about 75 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:56.239 of the speed of light and also why the heck you would want to do that 00:00:53.760 --> 00:01:00.559 in the first place storyblocks video offers you studio 00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:03.940 quality stock video clips for a fraction of the cost check it out today at the 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:13.040 link in the video description 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:20.479 when you think particle accelerator the first thing that probably comes to your 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:22.960 mind is cern they are famous for digging 00:01:20.479 --> 00:01:28.400 this great big tunnel that allows them to accelerate two beams of particles to 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:34.479 near the speed of light then smash those two beams together and see what happens 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:38.479 well triumph is a little bit different they 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:41.600 are more about directing a single beam 00:01:38.479 --> 00:01:44.079 of super fast particles at an object 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:49.920 like say a piece of uranium by doing this they can achieve a couple 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:50.640 of things one they can create isotopes 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:55.880 or forms of elements and compounds that 00:01:53.200 --> 00:02:00.240 generally don't exist naturally fluorodeoxyglucose for example is used 00:01:58.399 --> 00:02:07.200 for brain research in the nearby university of british columbia or to 00:02:03.759 --> 00:02:09.599 to actually produce elements that either 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:13.200 wouldn't naturally occur or that would be 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:18.160 very difficult to study inside the neutron star merger you'd have to travel 00:02:15.920 --> 00:02:23.680 to in order to find them before we get into that though let's go 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:26.640 all the way to the beginning with this 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:33.360 rather unassuming bottle of compressed hydrogen so the hydrogen gets sucked up 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:37.280 through this tube right here all the way 00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:42.000 up to this spot right here and then this chamber this whole thing 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:46.080 is kept under a vacuum so that takes care of the pumping 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:52.959 then it comes down into this plasma bucket which is right here where a 2 00:02:49.760 --> 00:02:56.000 degree celsius tantalum filament ignites 00:02:52.959 --> 00:02:59.760 the plasma strips the electrons from the 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:01.920 atoms and then the hydrogen anions so 00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:07.519 these are the hydrogen atoms that pick up extra electrons are fired out through 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:11.920 here and like really fast because our 12 000 volts 00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:19.040 here is not compared to ground but rather to 00:03:15.440 --> 00:03:20.440 the entire source room that we're inside 00:03:19.040 --> 00:03:26.319 which is kept at 300 000 volts compared to ground when 00:03:24.239 --> 00:03:30.720 the accelerator is running it's a good thing it's not on 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:37.920 now we're on the outside so directly above me is where our hydrogen anions 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:40.720 leave the source room so from this room 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:47.760 to the wall here are a bunch of linear resistors so the potential then goes 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:50.239 smoothly from the room up to 300 000 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:55.599 volts at the wall and when the particles leave here they'll be traveling at 00:03:52.239 --> 00:03:59.120 roughly 1 40th the speed of light to put 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:01.840 that in context that's about 160 000 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:05.200 times faster than the top speed of my car 00:04:03.040 --> 00:04:10.720 now dealing with a huge electric potential like this isn't easy 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:16.160 while our power supply here isn't actually working as hard as you'd think 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:21.680 it only uses about one milliamp once charged to maintain that potential 00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:28.479 if given the chance it will gladly create a literal bolt of lightning 00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:29.440 between the room here and the wall 00:04:28.479 --> 00:04:38.080 so to prevent this they've had to do a couple of things first of all this 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:41.440 entire room is a faraday cage and no 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:44.240 wires can go between it and the wall or 00:04:41.440 --> 00:04:49.919 it'll be spark city in here so all of the data and the control signals are 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:51.520 sent over fiber optic cables which 00:04:49.919 --> 00:04:56.800 is pretty standard but then what about power you can't do 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:58.479 fiber optic power well that is where 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:02.800 this comes in so rather than just running a wire 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:07.520 remember we can't do that or they ran this 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:12.479 non-conductive shaft with a 30 horsepower motor on the other side of 00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:17.680 the wall that allows them to convert mechanical energy here into electrical 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:22.720 energy just like a bog standard generator pretty clever 00:05:19.520 --> 00:05:25.919 now we're above the particle accelerator 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:28.320 where our wicked fast anions are coming 00:05:25.919 --> 00:05:32.800 shooting down this too but we have a problem since they don't just 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:37.120 come out in a nice orderly fashion like a laser but rather tend to scatter like 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:42.320 a flashlight the main goal here is just getting the 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:47.600 particles down there which requires some real you know 00:05:44.960 --> 00:05:54.720 particle wrangling and all along this line is triumph's sort of 00:05:51.520 --> 00:05:57.520 h minus particle prod of choice 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:02.160 basically they're precision manufactured electrostatic plates called quadrupoles 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:07.759 that act kind of like lenses for the charged particles to keep 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:13.039 them in line and the same technique gets used right here where the particle beam 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:18.720 actually gets turned before being sent one floor down into the real meat of the 00:06:15.440 --> 00:06:22.080 particle accelerator the 520 mega 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:23.440 electron volt cyclotron the largest in 00:06:22.080 --> 00:06:27.440 the world so before we go inside there's a few 00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:32.720 things that we've got to do any contamination on the surfaces inside 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:37.280 the cyclotron will need to be cleaned after we leave so they've asked us to 00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:43.440 wear lab coats so we don't shed any unnecessary dust and also to 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:48.880 wear booties and not like kneel down on the floor or anything like that just to 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:50.800 create as little extra work as possible 00:06:48.880 --> 00:06:54.080 for all the techs that keep this place running smoothly 00:06:52.400 --> 00:06:58.160 this is a very high technology contamination control barrier here 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:01.919 i like it okay now 00:06:59.919 --> 00:07:07.280 we are getting into where the magic happens the cyclotron and sorry getting 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:13.199 a nasty look here ah sorry not magic science 00:07:10.080 --> 00:07:16.240 magic isn't real science is anyway at 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:19.360 this point our h minus particles are 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:21.919 entering the circular track at 1 40th 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:27.759 the speed of light where large rf resonators provide the acceleration and 00:07:25.039 --> 00:07:34.880 massive deionized water-cooled coils of aluminum hold the particle on orbit now 00:07:31.520 --> 00:07:37.599 there are two coils both with 15 turns 00:07:34.880 --> 00:07:41.759 positioned around the cyclotron and each one carries 18 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:46.880 000 amps but that incredible power doesn't mean 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:52.960 that the researchers here don't also have a fair degree of control over the 00:07:49.919 --> 00:07:55.759 speed of our particles so as they whip 00:07:52.960 --> 00:08:01.840 around the loop the h minus particles will go faster and faster 00:07:58.400 --> 00:08:03.919 it actually takes about 1600 laps before 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:09.280 they'll reach full speed that's about three quarters of the speed of light 00:08:05.919 --> 00:08:12.560 but what they'll also do is a kind of 00:08:09.280 --> 00:08:14.960 spiral outward taking a wider path 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:19.120 around the accelerator kind of like how in your car if you're going faster it's 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:25.199 hard to take a tight turn that means that when it's time to apply 00:08:21.599 --> 00:08:28.400 the last step using a thin piece of 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:30.639 carbon foil to strip the electrons off 00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:37.200 so that we're left with just bare protons the energy of our protons can be 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:42.959 fine-tuned according to where the carbon is positioned on the inside of the 00:08:39.599 --> 00:08:45.760 cyclotron gives us slower lower energy 00:08:42.959 --> 00:08:52.240 particles or right out that the edge of the cyclotron gives us the full 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:54.720 520 mega electron volt experience once 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:59.600 the electrons are stripped our coils will no longer keep the stream going 00:08:56.959 --> 00:09:05.200 around the track so we're left with a straight stream of positively charged 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:09.120 particles that'll turn whatever poor sample is on the other side into matter 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:13.839 soup of course you can't have those particles 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:16.080 smashing into anything unintentionally like 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:23.279 air so the entire cyclotron needs to be held 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:28.000 at a vacuum of point zero zero zero zero 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:30.640 zero zero zero zero zero one bar 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:38.560 to accomplish this they use sounds so cool turbo molecular pumps 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:41.519 that spin at 40 000 RPM basically like 00:09:38.560 --> 00:09:46.560 smacking the air molecules out and not allowing them back in 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:48.720 now this does create the small problem 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:55.040 of making the vacuum chamber which is above us want to collapse in on itself 00:09:52.399 --> 00:10:00.320 however to combat that we're actually currently below the cyclotron do you see 00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:05.200 all these poles here well you might actually think that these are these are 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:10.560 supporting the cyclotron like struts or something but they're actually pulling 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:16.000 down really hard to make sure the whole thing doesn't just flatten itself so 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:20.079 that was pretty sweet but just like you guys will occasionally get the itch to 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:24.480 upgrade a graphics card even if you don't really need to but you just want 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:30.720 the latest and greatest well after 45 years of operation eventually 00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:32.240 the thrill of shooting protons at three 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:36.959 quarters the speed of light around the cyclotron started to wear off a little 00:10:34.800 --> 00:10:42.079 and the researchers at triumph needed a new way to smack stuff together at super 00:10:39.839 --> 00:10:47.600 high speeds and continue to push the frontiers of understanding so 00:10:44.640 --> 00:10:54.560 they built the world's most powerful electron linear accelerator or elenac so 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:56.959 when it reaches full power in 2025 the 00:10:54.560 --> 00:11:01.480 elinac here will be able to propel a hundred kilowatts of electrons at a 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:08.000 blistering 99.99 percent the speed of light 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:13.279 so to accomplish this they first need yet another 300 kilovolt power supply in 00:11:11.760 --> 00:11:17.839 a faraday cage over what is it with these guys in their 300 000 volt power 00:11:15.920 --> 00:11:20.640 supplies and faraday cages it's like a nice nice round number or something 00:11:19.680 --> 00:11:26.399 anyway that gives the electrons a pretty nice 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:29.680 kick in the butt to roughly 77 the speed 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.360 of light but that's that's just too slow 00:11:29.680 --> 00:11:36.800 that's like peasant stuff where they really start cooking are in these radio 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:42.480 frequency wave chambers so the insides of these are cooled down to just 2 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:45.279 kelvin using liquid helium surrounded by 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:48.640 a liquid nitrogen cooled heat shield i guess that's why they call it the super 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:53.120 thermis and in there the electrons are 00:11:50.640 --> 00:11:59.279 accelerated by the radio frequency field in here oscillating rapidly 1.3 billion 00:11:56.800 --> 00:12:03.440 times per second with these oscillations synchronized to the speed of the 00:12:00.959 --> 00:12:08.240 electron going through it so what that means effectively is that the electron 00:12:05.920 --> 00:12:13.600 is always being pushed along to the next segment kind of like a rail gun 00:12:10.880 --> 00:12:18.800 now one of these accelerators would get our electrons up to 10 mega electron 00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:21.839 volts but that wasn't enough for them so they got 00:12:20.880 --> 00:12:28.160 three three in a row gives it a total of 30 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:30.639 mega electron volts of particle smashing power 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:37.200 so all in all this accelerator consumes 1 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:40.000 million watts 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:43.519 watts or about enough power for a thousand homes 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:49.279 all right so we've had a lot of talk so far about particles going at obscene 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:51.760 speeds but now it's time to transfer all 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:55.519 of that momentum into something useful now 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:58.639 depending on the experiment what happens 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:01.200 next can vary a lot but normally it 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:05.920 consists of getting the beam to a point where it smashes into samples of 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:11.680 materials called targets where the particles have enough energy to split 00:13:08.959 --> 00:13:18.160 the nucleus of the atoms this can create all kinds of fun things neutrons muons 00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:21.360 or rare isotopes via nuclear fission or 00:13:18.160 --> 00:13:24.639 spellation and it also creates a big old 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:26.399 pile of matter garbage so 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:30.480 at risk of sounding like a broken record here this 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:36.399 is where things get tricky because you might not have a lot of time to grab the 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:42.240 important bits some of the rare isotopes that they want to study might only last 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:43.040 for a few milliseconds before decaying 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:48.959 so nano materials are designed and brought 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:51.920 to temperatures white hot around 2000 00:13:48.959 --> 00:13:58.000 degrees celsius to release the isotopes super fast then depending on what 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:02.959 exactly is smacked together some of the longer lived isotopes might 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:07.360 get collected locally while other particles would need to go through 00:14:04.959 --> 00:14:12.440 several switching stations some of which are below us here or for further 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:17.760 acceleration to arrive at an experimental detector 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:22.240 the one behind me here called the titan ion trap 00:14:19.199 --> 00:14:24.800 accurately measures an isotope's mass 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:29.760 using its cyclotron frequency so basically there's a combination of 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:32.240 magnetic and electrical fields that trap 00:14:29.760 --> 00:14:37.040 the particle in a confined space and then you can calculate how fast the 00:14:34.800 --> 00:14:41.600 particle moves around a track and from there calculate its mass 00:14:39.199 --> 00:14:46.079 alternately your isotope might get switched off of the main line over there 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:50.959 and end up in something like griffin which is kind of like a microscope 00:14:48.800 --> 00:14:56.800 that's looking for nuclei so griffin is actually the world's most 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:59.920 powerful tool for the decay spectroscopy 00:14:56.800 --> 00:15:03.120 of rare isotopes and it provides triumph 00:14:59.920 --> 00:15:05.680 scientists with an unparalleled view of 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:10.959 the interplay of forces that create nuclear structure here on the other side 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:14.399 the isotope atoms are delivered into the black ball that 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:20.240 it was showing when we were here for b-roll so we can show it to you but i can't point at it now and then they're 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:26.480 deposited on a tape reel and as they decay gamma rays are emitted and then 00:15:23.199 --> 00:15:29.600 are measured by these detectors that go 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.440 completely around the sample giving a 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:35.680 full 360 degrees of detection 00:15:33.680 --> 00:15:40.480 after the measurement is performed the tape reel gets spun some of which have 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:45.040 decayed into daughter nuclei that create unwanted gamma-ray background noise come 00:15:43.040 --> 00:15:49.040 out through the lead wall on the other side which shields the detectors from 00:15:47.839 --> 00:15:53.839 the daughters more isotopes can then be deposited on 00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:58.639 the tape and it's good for another go these isotopes are used to help us 00:15:55.920 --> 00:16:03.839 understand fundamental physics but there are also lots of other applications 00:16:01.040 --> 00:16:08.000 isotopes created here at triumph have been used for things like tracking the 00:16:05.839 --> 00:16:13.199 movement of plankton detecting brain disease or cancer treating cancer 00:16:11.040 --> 00:16:18.480 characterizing candidate materials for superconductors understanding how metal 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:23.120 ions make proteins and enzymes in our body do what they do and you know what 00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:26.639 honestly if i were to list it all in this video we'd go on for another 10 or 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.800 20 minutes but the lightest i'm sure you've been 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:34.480 screaming at the screen for the last 10 minutes or so when are you getting to 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:40.480 the cool computers okay okay now so behind these doors is a 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:45.440 tier one data center that analyzes experiment data from the atlas particle 00:16:42.959 --> 00:16:51.120 detector at the large hadron collider it has a 100 gigabit fiber pipe capacity 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:56.160 that connects to the lhc over at syrian switzerland and other sites around the 00:16:53.759 --> 00:17:02.480 world so that they can share the ridiculous amount of computing and 00:16:59.040 --> 00:17:04.480 storage needed to analyze and store the 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:11.360 massive amounts of data that atlas produces so in there they've got 12 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:16.079 500 CPU cores 12 petabytes of disk 00:17:11.360 --> 00:17:19.039 storage and 31 petabytes of tape storage 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:22.480 oh it does open but i'm ha ha i thought it was going to be locked unfortunately 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:27.600 we're not actually allowed to go in there something something currently holding 00:17:25.360 --> 00:17:30.240 the record for tier 1 computing uptime something something me getting close to 00:17:29.120 --> 00:17:36.160 it i don't know i don't really know i don't really know what the issue was so this was really 00:17:33.840 --> 00:17:40.880 cool and it's the end of our tour but it's hardly the end for the work being 00:17:38.320 --> 00:17:46.160 done here at triumph they're actually expanding like crazy along with ramping 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:51.600 up the elinac they're going to be tripling their rare isotope production 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:57.039 capabilities in the next couple of years adding another building and continuing 00:17:53.840 --> 00:17:59.600 to employ around 100 co-op students 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:01.679 every year to teach them about particle acceleration 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:07.520 so maybe then we'll have to come back when they've got another big update to show 00:18:05.120 --> 00:18:11.919 us uh maybe we can get behind those data center doors next time yeah but in the 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:16.640 meantime i just want to give a huge shout out to stu for coordinating our 00:18:13.840 --> 00:18:20.799 tour and to the legion of experts that showed us around it was a lot of fun to 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:25.120 get to spend a day with who are what are probably some of the 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:29.280 smartest people here in canada get studio quality stock video clips for a 00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:33.600 fraction of the cost with storyblocks video download all the stock video your 00:18:31.600 --> 00:18:37.760 heart desires from their member library including hd and 4k footage after 00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:42.080 effects templates motion backgrounds and more we actually use it here quite a bit 00:18:39.520 --> 00:18:45.200 for a Techquickie plus get exclusive discounts on millions of additional 00:18:43.600 --> 00:18:49.280 marketplace clips and the original artists take home a commission of the 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:53.520 sale price all content is royalty free so you can use it for commercial and 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:56.799 personal projects such as youtube videos new clips are added regularly as well so 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:00.320 there's always something fresh to download check it out today at the link 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:04.640 below to learn more so thanks for watching guys if you disliked this video you know where that 00:19:03.120 --> 00:19:07.679 button is but if you liked it hit like get subscribed or maybe consider 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:13.280 checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video description but i hope you've got like a 00:19:11.360 --> 00:19:17.280 billion dollars if you want one of these because like probably more than that 00:19:15.520 --> 00:19:21.840 yeah i'm getting i'm getting the nod more than one billion dollars 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:26.799 anyway also linked in the video description is our merch store which has cool shirts 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:31.360 not this one but like this one and our community forum which you should totally 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.360 join