Politics & Government
How Do You Move a 14-Ton Magnet? BNL Finds Out
William Floyd Parkway temporarily closed to start moving electromagnet to Illinois labs.
Brookhaven drivers heading home late Sunday may have gotten a rare glimpse at one of the mind-blowing forces behind the science happening at Brookhaven National Labs.
The U.S. Department of Energy's started the painstaking process of moving Brookhaven National Lab's 14-ton electromagnet ring from the Upton laboratories to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, reports Newsday.
The electromagnet - made of up aluminum, steel and superconducting coils - was loaded onto a truck with a setup specially designed to minimize the chance of damaged that can result if the ring wobbles as little as one-eighth of an inch.
The William Floyd Parkway was briefly shut down around 12:15 a.m. Monday morning so the ring could be transported six miles to Smith Point Park off the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be loaded onto a boat that will sail around the Atlantic coast and up the Mississippi River to its final destination, a journey costing taxpayers $3 million.
Andre Salles, a Patch blogger and spokesman for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, said the electromagnet's journey posses no danger to the public because it is not plugged into a power source. He lays out details of the ring's journey through Illinois.
Read more on Newsday [subscription required] about the BNL's 14-ton electromagnet.
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