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Idea: Use pieces of lead sheeting to shield the RAM chips from cosmic radiation.
by Luyt 16y ago
Idea: Use pieces of lead sheeting to shield the RAM chips from cosmic radiation.
- harshpotatoes 16y agoWhile lead is a good choice for photon radiation, it is a very bad choice to shield against charged particles. Because lead is very dense (which is why it is good for xrays or gamma rays), it slows down the protons/electrons very quickly, producing brehmsstraulangw. low density materials such as acrylic or wood or concretemight be better. Although, becuase the protons are such high energy, I can't imagine how much material it would take. This stuff is very bhigh energy, and very nasty to stop. To get an idea of what kind of shielding you'd need, I'd look at the shielding used at the lhc, tevatron, and slac. they all produce particles of comparable energy. I think ECC ram might be cheaper, up to a point, maybe shielding would be better for data centers.
- eru 16y agoOne small correction: Bremsstrahlung.
- harshpotatoes 16y agoD'oh
- bmm6o 16y agoWow, it's been a long time since I've seen that word. It was a favorite spelling challenge between my office mate and I: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung
- anamax 16y ago> Idea: Use pieces of lead sheeting to shield the RAM chips from cosmic radiation. It's really difficult to find lead that doesn't emit various particles itself. (Yup, lead has radioactive isotopes.) IIRC, there have been memory/logic errors traced to radioactive particles from solder, perhaps even the lead. (This was back in the days when solder contained lead.)
- dhughes 16y agoItaly is using ancient Roman lead ingots, which have lost most of their natural radioactivity, in their CUORE neutrino experiment. http://www.physorg.com/news190646406.html http://www.physorg.com/news190646406.html