[CPEO-MEF] Detecting Land Mines

[loc@icx.net]

Detecting Land Mines

A longstanding problem in many parts of the world is sniffing out land
mines, which still maim or kill a horrifying 20,000 innocents every
year. Now it looks like there may be a dramatic leap in the technology 
that can be used to find them. Scientists in Germany and Russia have 
devised a new way of detecting the nitrogen in TNT from a distance. The 
work is a variation on the magnetic resonance effect used in medical 
imaging.

Instead of magnetizing the rather tricky nitrogen nuclei directly, they 
report, one can more easily magnetize hydrogen atoms, and then get them 
to transfer their magnetization to the nitrogen. Not only is the new 
technique more sensitive than its predecessors, but it's also sensitive 
to details of the manufacture of the TNT.
ref.: Journal of Physics D (Applied Physics), May 7, 2002.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/113/science/Detecting_land_mines+.shtml



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Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
We've moved!  Please note our new address:
102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
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