Beam Dump
We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain.
We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain.
Experimental particle physics and amusement parks both involve moving objects at speed, and both require provisions to be made to safely handle those objects if something goes wrong. However, the considerations in each situation are quite different, largely due to the fact that in one case the objects are people which we would not want to damage, and a solution from one field is therefore unlikely to be suitable in the other.
In the comic, Cueball, Megan, and White Hat have apparently hired an accelerator physicist, portrayed as Ponytail, to design a water park. Ponytail has decided that, in the event that an emergency stop is activated on a large waterslide, the riders would be diverted to a "beam dump", a large block of graphite, which Ponytail believes would safely slow the momentum of the riders. However, unlike in Ponytail's former field of work, the subsequent fate of the visitors should be a major concern, and collisions into heavy solid blocks is a physical health risk.[citation needed]
In the context of a particle accelerator, beam dumps are indeed formed of large blocks of graphite, which safely slow the unwanted particles without having them release large amounts of energy in a more uncontrolled manner. It could be argued that since this measure is intended for the safety of the operators, and not the particles (customers) it would technically be effective at the original purpose if the blocks are sufficiently large, protecting the operators from high velocity customers — if not from the lawsuits of any survivors/next-of-kin.
Reflection and scattering, mentioned in the title text, are effects that occur as a result of particle collisions in a particle accelerator. In the context of this amusement park, though, it could mean customers worrying about the "beam dump" solution and running off to find someone to complain to about it. Alternatively, it could mean the messy after-effects of them striking the graphite. Either way, Ponytail proposes to use industrial grade, ie high strength, flypaper to prevent it by trapping the patrons.