I'll take particle accelerators for $200, Alex
Knowing accelerator trivia may someday earn you cash and a shot at fame.
During the past few months, the TV quiz show Jeopardy! visited Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, NY, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California to shoot footage for rounds of questions on particle accelerators.
In a twist on traditional quiz shows, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek gives contestants answers for which they must provide the questions. For example, under the category "Accelerators: Science at Nearly the Speed of Light from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center," one clue stated: "In the two-mile-long linear accelerator, an electromagnetic wave pushes these particles along, kind of like surfers." The correct question: "What are electrons?"
The show's roving "Clue Crew" filmed video clues eight to 12 seconds long at various locations in the labs.
At Brookhaven, this involved standing in the accelerator tunnel for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC, to illustrate how magnets help push particles to nearly the speed of light. The segment has not been scheduled to air yet, but a local TV news report on the filming can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/55zvb9.
At SLAC, the camera crew filmed in the main control room as staffers worked in the background, seemingly undisturbed. But filming in the lab's klystron gallery was not so easy; the buzz from the microwave-generating klystrons that provide power to the accelerator's beam line nearly drowned out the speaker's voice. The episode aired in September; you can find clips at http://tinyurl.com/58r4q9.
What is the sound of discovery, Alex?
Calla Cofield
Click here to download the pdf version of this article.
