DANGER! Flying Objects!

[Jon P. Inghram]

http://www.simplyphysics.com/flying_objects.html

Link fixed?

[Tjalfe]

link no workie

[GT98]

[Jon P. Inghram]

LoL, didn't see that one! Hopefully that's a staged picture...

[VJ]

In October 2000, a team was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for levitating a frog in a magnetic field :

http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/research/theory/Berry/press/igberry.html

More details:

http://www.hfml.science.ru.nl/froglev.html

Jörg

[Nowhere]

Did anyone else thought "railgun"?

Hmm...must look up how these things operate...in worst case shutting it down in right moment should do the trick

[Jon P. Inghram]

They can't be turned off instantly: they use large superconductive coils bathed in liquid helium to produce such a strong magnetic field. The only way to quickly demagnatize one is to dump the helium out, but that can damage the MRI machine along with flooding the room with helium which can be dangerous if there isn't enough ventialation.

Here's a site with bits of info on MRI safety: http://www.revisemri.com/questions/safety/index.htm

[Nowhere]

Still, wouldn't one shot of a slug at supersonic speed be worth it?

[Jon P. Inghram]

Sure, here's a page showing you how too: http://www.powerlabs.org/railgun.htm

[Brian R.]

"The above pictures show what can happen when a welding tank is brought near a magnet. The flying tank destroyed the phantom sitting in the magnet. This site was lucky, nothing happened to the magnet itself, however............

My Favorite Horror Story
Here's one I heard from an Oxford Magnets engineer which was later independently verified by a technologist who had been hired to work at this site.

A brand new magnet had just finished being installed into a brand new building. All of the acceptance testing had been completed and the magnet was to be turned over to the customer the very next day. There was only one minor problem to be dealt with first. One of the sprinklers in the scan room had a tiny leak. A welder was brought in to fix the leak but somebody forgot to tell him that the magnet was at field. So..... in walks this welder with his acetyene torch system. His tank flies into the magnet, the valve breaks off, sparks and catches fire. Since he was in there to fix a leak in the sprinkler system, it had been turned off first. The brand new building burned to the ground!

Sorry, I don't have any pictures.

If anyone knows if I have any of the details wrong, I'd appreciate them letting me know."

[Dr Mordrid]

MRI's work on smaller fields than they used to, but they are still extremely powerful. Examples of what happens when you don't properly secure an MRI suite;

http://www.health.state.ny.us/press/releases/2001/wmcmri.htm

Other MRI incidents from the MDR (Medical Device Reports) database;

* MDR-351516:
A patient with an implanted cardiac pacemaker died during an MR exam. (12/2/92)

* MDR-175218:
A patient with an implanted cardiac pacemaker died during or shortly after an MR exam. The coroner determined that the death was due to the interruption of the pacemaker by the MR system. (9/18/89)

MDR-349790:
A patient with an implanted intracranial aneurysm clip died as a result of an attempt to scan her. The clip reportedly shifted when exposed to the magnetic field. The staff apparently had obtained information indicating that the material in this clip could be scanned safely. (11/11/92)

MDR-100222:
Dislodgement of an iron filing in a patient's eye during MR imaging resulted in vision loss in that eye. (1/8/85)

MDR-454660:
A patient complained of double vision after an MR exam. The MR exam as well as an x-ray revealed the presence of metal near the patient's eye. The patient was sedated at the time of the exam and was not able to inform anyone of this condition. (12/15/93)

MDR-547886:
An IV pole was attracted to the magnet and struck a patient, cutting his arm. The patient required stapling of the cut. (8/30/94)

MDR-405200:
A pair of scissors was pulled out of a nurses hand as she entered the magnet room. The scissors hit a patient causing a cut on the patient's head. (8/2/93)

MDR-234698:
A patient was struck by an oxygen bottle while being placed in the magnet bore. The patient received injuries requiring sutures. (6/2/91)

PRP-19168:
Two steel tines (parts of a fork lift) weighing 80 pounds each were accelerated by the magnet striking a technician and knocking him over 15 feet resulting in serious injury. (6/5/86)

More info on MRI safety here;

http://www.mrisafety.com/

You have to register to use the site, but setting up a foo registration is easy enough....

Dr. Mordrid