Can u survive being hit by a particle accelerator?

wa1ex

Temporal Navigator
Imagine sticking just your head in CERN's particle accelerator while the proton beam is running... is like getting hit by a very tiny bullet at near light speeds over and over.
Speedy Gonzales version of the Russian roulette.

Can you? apparently only one person has survived so far ^_^


sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Bugorski
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.12/science_pr.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/anatoli-bugorski

External source:
Anatoli Bugorski is a Russian scientist who was involved in an accident with a particle accelerator in 1978.

He was working on the maintenance of a Soviet linear accelerator, when, due to a failed safety mechanism, he was able to stick his head in one part of the accelerator chamber while the proton beam was running. The left half of his face swelled up beyond recognition, and over the next several days started peeling off, showing the path that the proton beam (moving near the speed of light) had burned through parts of his face, his bone, and the brain tissue underneath. Amazingly, he has survived to this day: he is able to function perfectly well, save the fact that he has occasional petit mal seizures and very occasional grand mal seizures. The left half of his face was frozen, due to the destruction of nerves, and does not age.
 
Back
Top