this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
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[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 53 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Honestly I don't know why, but submerging a big machine just makes it look 10x cooler (in a figurative sense, in addition to literal)

I don't make the rules

[–] Screen_Shatter@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It always seems ominous to me. It could be 100% inert and harmless and knowing that I would still absolutely lose my shit panicking if I fell in.

[–] catbum@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Submechanophobia vibes, for sure.

I'm not tangled... it grabbed my leg ^ahhhhfuckahhhhh^

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

"It's just there for cooling" - someone

"NO IT GRABBED ME AND PULLED ME IN, I DIDNT TRIP!" - Me

[–] Transcendant@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

You're not wrong!

[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

You’re right, and the Cherenkov radiation just makes it look cooler

[–] oce@jlai.lu 17 points 1 week ago (6 children)

If I'm not mistaken, the water looks bright blue because some particles are going faster than light in this water. So it emits a blue flash akin to the Sonic boom when a plane goes faster than sound speed in the atmosphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

[–] prex@aussie.zone 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not sure about this particular experiment, but neutrino detectors are usually deep underground and trying to find a tiny tiny spark of Cherenkov radiation or other effects.
I'm guessing the blue colour is simply paint.

[–] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

From Wikipedia (and my neutrino physics knowledge) , the goal is to measure neutrino oscillation (neutrino charge flavour when travelling), and it seens to be a set of detector located at various distance from a nuclear reactor. The photo mostly looks like one of the reactors rather than the detector

[–] giacomo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 week ago

maybe the neutrinos are emitting blueberry charge flavor.

[–] prex@aussie.zone 2 points 1 week ago

I stand corrected. It certainly doesn't look like paint & who would want blue water.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago

Yup, it's basically the underwater version of sonic booms. Pretty cool stuff

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I mean... I'm not saying that isn't happening but also water is just blue.

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

...water isn't blue 🤨

...have you been drinking blue water? 🤨

[–] jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Water IS blue but not enough to explain why the ocean is as blue as it is

While relatively small quantities of water appear to be colorless, pure water has a slight blue color that becomes deeper as the thickness of the observed sample increases

Wikipedia

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ok so it wouldn't affect a small pool like in the picture.

[–] jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Keep moving those goalposts

I'd expect no less from a feddit user

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Duke was here to learn but apparently you’re just here to be a jerk.

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago

😡😡😡😡<- u rn lol

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It is slightly blue, it's just only noticeable when it gets deep enough. So yeah we've all been drinking blue water lol

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I've seen it from afar and it is indeed a bright blue.

Edit: I don't think that is what we are see here though. It looks like the water itself might have something added to it. There are several elements that absorb neutrons. Such as boron but I'm unsure what color it would be dissolved in water. I inhaled boron gas when I was on the first crew into the containment building at a shutdown. Had to stay at decon until it was out of my lungs.

I saw the spent fuel pool at a nuke from over a hundred feet. It was low light and you could clearly see the blue glow from the spent fuel rods. We were just passing through so it was a quick look to the work site and back from it.

I've also seen a reactor shutdown with the fuel rods exposed in preparation for a fuel shuffle. There may have been a glow but all the lights were on so it would have been washed away.

[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yup, pretty much the only kind of radiation we can see without melting your eyeballs.

Fun fact, you can totally swim in that pool. Don’t go too deep but it’s cleaner and safer than your average public pool.

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 2 points 1 week ago

Thats cool as fuck, thanks for explaining!

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Weird fact, you could technically swim in a cooling pond if the reactor is in shutdown or idle. It's not particularly smart but also not particularly deadly unless you dive down closer to the tractor body itself.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

A guy fell in the moon pool at a nuke I was working at. He was out less than ten seconds later. It caused a full inventory since the basket was out of the reactor and the tops of the fuel rods were exposed. Its frowned upon to the point the guy got a early layoff.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Absolutely perfect for a... I dunno, James Bond or Marvel superhero movie!

[–] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If they had a Chinese villain it would get banned in China. If it had a Chinese experiment go wrong and create a hero then it might get banned in China.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Well, all kinds of material is banned in China, for all kinds of foolish or applicable reasons, as per the case.

Ordinarily I wouldn't give a toss what they do, but then again, they've bought in to all kinds of popular industries, so absolutely they might have a big say in that.

[–] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Marvel specifically have made changes for Chinese releases and posters before. They also have enough sway to make John Cena apologize for calling Taiwan a country, leading to John Xina memes.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago

Yeap, it's a known thing. Similar situation with Daryl Morey and others in the NBA rightfully calling out the Uyghur atrocities, then getting huge negative blowback. Same reason for LeBron, who ordinarily leans towards progressivism, being such a hypocrite and sellout on the matter.

Money, power and influence.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 3 points 1 week ago

Correct! Points on the board!

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

No, I’m picking a fight with China.

[–] homes@piefed.world 4 points 1 week ago

I, too, am at risk of overheating and would like a cooling bath.

[–] saltnotsugar@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

I’m no expert but I do believe that if a scientist accidentally falls in, they will become Neutrino Man.