Pistol stuck to MRI machine - GIF

[Altair]

Pistol stuck to MRI machine.



Previously:

10.5-Tesla MRI machine - photos
CT scanner with cover removed - photo
CT scanning a horse - photo
CAT scan machine spinning without cover

[Frank S]

SO I'm guessing there was no way to simply turn the machine off?

[Elizabeth Greene]

SO I'm guessing there was no way to simply turn the machine off?

There is a button to quench the magnets in an emergency, but it takes weeks to put the machine back in service.

[Frank S]

There is a button to quench the magnets in an emergency, but it takes weeks to put the machine back in service.

Thanks, the only MRI machines I have ever seen were in a scrap yard and they were dead as hammers with broken handles
The docs. wanted to put me in one of those machines in 87 when part of a dozer blade I was working on fell on me causing a compression fracture in my T12. But changed their mind once they x rayed and noticed the piece of old shrapnel encased in scar tissue right next to my heart

[TrickieDickie]

Quenching the magnet is only done in emergencies, it is possible to damage the magnet that way. Normally it is ramped down slowly. There was once a situation in one of our accounts that a custodian went into the magnet room with a floor polisher (the entrance is clearly marked "Danger Strong Magnetic Field) and of course the magnet quickly ripped it from his hands. The GE magnet suffered cosmetic damage but was ramped down to remove the offending appendage, then ramped back up when the ramping power supply arrived.

[Nick79]

Sooo exactly how did the handgun get into the MRI room in the first place? I have had a couple of MRIs and before I get near the machine I am checked for anything that might interfere with the magnet, or results...

[f800]

Sooo exactly how did the handgun get into the MRI room in the first place? I have had a couple of MRIs and before I get near the machine I am checked for anything that might interfere with the magnet, or results...

Working in a hospital for over 25 years, the most likely scenario would be a prisoner ( who had to have the handcuffs removed to enter MRI), caused a situation requiring immediate attention by the attending officer

[hemmjo]

Yeah you do not want to get an MRI if you have a sliver of steel in your finger, or your eye. MRI machines are part of the reason that Helium is in short supply.

[nova_robotics]

MRI machines are part of the reason that Helium is in short supply.

Yes but also mostly no. The US decided to decommission the national helium reserve in the mid 90s, so they basically flooded the market with cheap helium. So for 20 years the price of helium was artificially depressed, which skewed the economics of projects that required helium. Now that the US is no longer dumping helium, the price has equalized. While it's true that it's mostly non-renewable, the fact is that there's an abundance but it's just not worth recovering. Nearly every natural gas project on the planet just vents the stuff to the atmosphere in truly monumental scales.

Also you're totally right about it escaping the atmosphere, and it's super interesting. Helium is monoatomic and very light. To have the similar kinetic energy as other atmospheric gases (i.e. temperature) the atoms have to go super fast. How fast you say? Faster than the escape velocity of the earth. That's why there's no helium in the atmosphere. It shoots off into space and never comes back because it's actually going fast enough to escape the gravity well of the Earth.

[NeiljohnUK]

Rather less wasteful than party balloons though... Disposable Helium cylinders for balloon inflation have become popular for suicide by asphyxiation, another good reason to stop selling them!