Tunnel at Index Lower Walls??

[Gary_Yngve]

Last night I had dinner with a friend who just got his PhD from UW Physics, and while he had a lot to tell me about the Cashmere project (one of his committee members is very involved in it), he didn't know anything about the tunnel at Index. Maybe it's the Applied Physics Lab folks at UW instead?

[Gary_Yngve]

He did have some interesting stuff to say about NUSEL in Cashmere:

 

Impact on the environment and the locals will basically be just during construction. Afterward the facility will be a boon to the local economy because of researchers living fulltime in Leavenworth. Because of issues with having to ventilate exhaust, no gas-powered vehicles can drive into the facility -- there will be electric-powered shuttles. The facility will not be used solely for physics research. Hydrologists may want to study water seepage through the bedrock. Biologists may want to study how certain species adapt to low light.

 

And it's funny how they clean the neutrino-detection facility in Japan. They drain the water chamber and some dudes in an inflatable raft scrub the photoreceptors at water level. Then they raise the water level to the height of the next ring of photoreceptors, and so on.

[Szyjakowski]

He did have some interesting stuff to say about NUSEL in Cashmere:

 

Impact on the environment and the locals will basically be just during construction.

of course they tell you that...DUSEL, which it is affectionaly called in the upper valley is totally fuking stupid idea. there is no reason to disrupt an entire valley just to fill some researchers pocketbook.

haxton

[slaphappy]

Impact on the environment and the locals will basically be just during construction. Afterward the facility will be a boon to the local economy because of researchers living fulltime in Leavenworth.

 

and you believe that??? What about the Costco sized building and adjacent visitors center? How about the local tax dollars needed to straighten and widen the Icicle road? What about the crags and boulders we will lose during this construction. I'm sure no one will mind losing access to Hubba Hubba since the entrance is supposed to go directly below one of the more accesible and predictable ice climbs in the area. What about the 2 empty 20' three miles worth of tunnel after the project is completed in 30 years? Where is the necessary water going to come from? DUSEL can not use water from the Icicle, the town already needs it.

 

DUSEL sucks in the Icicle, the negative impacts will far outway the positives. Go somewhere else!

[Bill_Simpkins]

The things you enjoy, the cars you drive, the planes you fly, the TV you watch, the caribiners you fall on, the friction on your climbing shoes, are all a result of physics research.

If you use any of those things, you should be willing to sacrifice something.

 

On another note, I don't think that tunnel in Index is used for gravitational research because the train would mess up the results.

[Szyjakowski]

a nutrino collector has nothing to do with all that shit.

physics research is good, yes, but not in the icicle.

[Gary_Yngve]

Rex and Gary,

 

The experiment was a repeat of the very old Eotvos experiment. The

purpose was to look for non-1/r^2 dependence of gravity. I think

this is the experiment that Rex was referring to, which I don't think

was next to Prusik Peak. There may have been more than one experiment of

this type at Index. The two people involved were Paul Boynton and Eric

Adelberger. I think the experiments were quite a while ago - more than

10 years ago. Their results were null, meaning that gravity did indeed

behave as 1/r^2 within the limits of experimental error. I would contact

Adelberger if you are really interested. The exisitence of the tunnel is

due to testing of a hydraulic boring machine built by Flow Industries in

Kent. Such machines were used to bore the "Chunnel" between England and

France. You could probably do an INSPEC or Google search on Adelberger

and Boynton's names to see what they published on this.

 

Bob

 

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Rex Andrew wrote:

 

> Hi Gary

>

> I actually don't know. Probably gravitation. I believe there

> was an experiment quite a few years ago adjacent to Prusik

> peak to try to detect the influence of gravity of a large

> object (i.e., a mountain.)

>

> I've forwarded this important email to Bob Odom here at the

> lab who is our expert liaison between APL and UW/physics.

> Bob is also a top-notch rock climber.

>

> Bob: Gary is the president of the UW climbing club. Therefore,

> this is clearly a pressing matter of high importance. Thanks

> for any insight you can lend us!

>

> -rex

>

> On Sun, 25

> Jul

> 2004, Gary David Yngve wrote:

>

> >

> > Hi Rex,

> >

> > I was wondering if you knew anything about the tunnel at Index or know

> > someone that does. I know the UW folks do some sort of crazy physics

> > research in there, but I talked to a buddy of mine who just got his PhD

> > from UW Physics and he hadn't heard of it, so maybe it's the APL

> > folks? Just curious what kind of cool stuff is going on in there... some

> > sort of gravitation experiment or something?

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Gary

[moonrover]

here's what my friend came back with (seems to jive):

 

"The gravity experiment at the index town walls is a torsion pendulum like the one I used to work on when I was an undergrad. The pendulum is half aluminum, and half beryllium, and they are using the cliff as a source mass. Some theories have a fifth force called a yukawa force. It contradicts Einstein's equivalence principle, and has not been measured. The pendulum is designed to place an upper limit on the possible strength of a yukawa force by doing a very precise measurement, and not finding anything. Or if they find something, then they get a nobel prize."

[tom_harbell]

it's where the UW buried jesus

[Norsky]

here's what my friend came back with (seems to jive):

 

"The gravity experiment at the index town walls is a torsion pendulum like the one I used to work on when I was an undergrad. The pendulum is half aluminum, and half beryllium, and they are using the cliff as a source mass. Some theories have a fifth force called a yukawa force. It contradicts Einstein's equivalence principle, and has not been measured. The pendulum is designed to place an upper limit on the possible strength of a yukawa force by doing a very precise measurement, and not finding anything. Or if they find something, then they get a nobel prize."

 

 

Back when Cunning Stunt still had bolts on it from a retro job done by the FA, I saw a UW guy walking in and out of the tunnel. He let me go in and I saw the research area and he told me about the pendulum. He said we couldn't stay long due to the radon.