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Saturday, August 21, 2004

ilc picks niobium

if you’re in the mood for some wild speculation, jump on the niobium futures… the international linear collider will go with niobium magnets instead of copper magnets.

Particle collider edges forward [bbs news, august 2o, 2004]

Making its announcement at the International Conference on High Energy Physics, the International Committee for Future Accelerators said the collider should employ niobium superconducting technology in the system it uses to accelerate particles.

if the laws of physics don’t change between now and then… and if the politicians stay on track and fund this thing… and if there isn’t a major technological breakthrough that makes room-temperature superconductors made out of recycled office paper… then this beast will need 30 kilometers of niobium superconducting magnets. go go gadget magnets!

want to horde some niobium? cia. brasileira de metalurgia e mineração [brazil], mineração catalão de goiás [brazil], niobec [canada], silmet [estonia].

for more on niobium, a handy report from the us government is here [pdf].

posted by roj at 5:19 am