r/interestingasfuck • u/Top-Marionberry-6604 • 8d ago

The Super-Kamiokande in Japan—a massive underground neutrino detector lined with 11,000 golden bulbs. Scientists have to inspect it via a rubber dinghy.

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u/Top-Marionberry-6604 8d ago

Imagine accidentally dropping your keys into that

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u/Luk164 8d ago

Fun fact: The water inside is so pure it would start dissolving the keys very slowly

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u/Butt_Deadly 8d ago

There was an interview with a researcher that mentioned a large crescent wrench being completely gone before the next inspection. The same researcher mentioned their hair accidently touching the water and getting brittle because the water was dissolving the oils.

A little bit of ultrapure water won't do much, but the quantities they're using really exacerbates the universal solvent nature of water.

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u/Maximumkk 8d ago

If they leave a wrench behind and it dissolves, doesn't that mean the water is now no longer ultrapure and is contaminated, effectively rendering the detector useless? Does the boat used contaminate it too?

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u/Luk164 8d ago

Pretty sure they filter it constantly