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I SAW AN ACTUAL SONIC RAINBOOM
14 years ago
...but unfortunately they're only one colour in real life.
Despite the neverending ride there, I went to Penn State to see their nuclear reactor! It was really awesome! We got free ice cream, talked about making pictures with x-rays (we drew CatDog), did that silly half-life/probability experiment with rolling M&Ms that I've done a million times before, I recited a terrifying amount of the constant e, we discussed that their very anatomically incorrect 5-toed paw (without one offset as a thumb, just toe-toe-toe-toe-toe) logo is caused by the nuclear reactor on campus, and then we saw the actual thing!
The reactor is submerged, but we could look over into it and watch it glow when it was turned on. First it came on slowly, then the second time it was pulsed (something that could never, ever safely happen in a power-producing or navy reactor), meaning it made a gigantic blast of energy and shut off faster than you can blink.
In both of those, it glowed blue. The reason it glows blue is because it happens faster than the speed of light in water, making the light wave equivalent of a sonic boom. Therefore, I saw the closest thing in real life to a sonic rainboom!!
Also, if you're ever watching a movie and someone runs away screaming "THE REACTOR IS CRITICAL," that just means it's on and functioning properly. XD
Despite the neverending ride there, I went to Penn State to see their nuclear reactor! It was really awesome! We got free ice cream, talked about making pictures with x-rays (we drew CatDog), did that silly half-life/probability experiment with rolling M&Ms that I've done a million times before, I recited a terrifying amount of the constant e, we discussed that their very anatomically incorrect 5-toed paw (without one offset as a thumb, just toe-toe-toe-toe-toe) logo is caused by the nuclear reactor on campus, and then we saw the actual thing!
The reactor is submerged, but we could look over into it and watch it glow when it was turned on. First it came on slowly, then the second time it was pulsed (something that could never, ever safely happen in a power-producing or navy reactor), meaning it made a gigantic blast of energy and shut off faster than you can blink.
In both of those, it glowed blue. The reason it glows blue is because it happens faster than the speed of light in water, making the light wave equivalent of a sonic boom. Therefore, I saw the closest thing in real life to a sonic rainboom!!
Also, if you're ever watching a movie and someone runs away screaming "THE REACTOR IS CRITICAL," that just means it's on and functioning properly. XD
CyberCorn Entropic
~cybercornentropic
Gnifty. By the way, the blue glow is called Cerenkov radiation, which you no doubt already knew.
swr
~swr
OP
Ah, if they gave us that proper name, it didn't ring any bells when you said it. The tour wasn't for as stuck-up-ly smart people as I'm used to when I go on these things, so they probably just explained the process.
CyberCorn Entropic
~cybercornentropic
I didn't expect them to, actually. After all, it's wiser for them to just simply explain the process to prove they know what they're doing than to throw about technobabble just to sound like they know what they're doing. I just thought I'd throw out the technical name to prove I'm in the less wise group.
