July 31, 2008

Dear Steve,

I used to work with superconducting magnets in the Semiconductor Industry. These were very large magnets (about 4 feet in diameter) used to control the crystal lattice structure when pulling a large crystal from the crucible (molten silicon). These magnets cannot be turned off easily. They store a large amount of energy and the resistive load required to bleed off the energy takes several hours to days. I am sure the magnets used with the collider would require even more time to bleed the energy, so I believe Stan is right to worry about the effects this can have upon the earth's magnetic field and possible earth quakes and volcanic activity.

I also want to mention that if there is a hair line crack in the super conducting wire or a coolant failure could result in a very large explosion. We worried in the Semiconductor Fabs that the energy could impact an entire city. Imagine what these collider magnets can do.

Dave