Tesla in my hospital, Tesla in my garage

[JPP]

Sometimes life, education, career, training, and experience all converge in mysterious ways. My wife and I are both diagnostic radiologists (medical subspecialty), and we both did early research in what was called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (now known as Magnetic Resonance or MR-- the nuclear part scared too many patients). The original unit of measurement of magnetic field was Gauss (by way of reference, the earth's magnetic field is about 1 gauss). The current international standard unit is Tesla (1 T is 1000 Gauss). Clinical MR systems routinely operate at 1.5 or 3 T. For over 25 years, I have been invoking the word Tesla many times a day when I interpret and dictate the report of MR examinations, as I always report the field strength of the system used to image a patient (... yes, it is relevant). Little did I know that now I would be taking delivery of a new EV and be able to speak the name Tesla in a totally different context. Makes me grin a bit at work (even before the widely reported 'Tesla grin' appears on my face).

 

[Jason S]

Grats on the order and a lovely choice of options.

Take delivery at work! :smile:

Thanks for the MRI terminology lesson too.

 

[efusco]

Custom Tag... 1K_Gauss

 

[toto_48313]

As long as you are not a Fashion photograph you can talk about the Model S, without mentionning Tesla.

 

[JPP]

efusco---custom vanity plates tempting, but I expect to be way too high profile after taking delivery, and will go with 'anonymous' generic plates.

Interesting that in CA the 'rich & powerful' can apply to the DMV and be exempted from having to obtain & mount plates to theoretically keep the paparazzi away.

 

[JPP]

A sharp eyed forum reader picked up a typo in my OP. 1 Tesla is 10000 Gauss. Dropped a zero. Thx.

 

[richkae]

A sharp eyed forum reader picked up a typo in my OP. 1 Tesla is 10000 Gauss. Dropped a zero. Thx.

1 Tesla should equal 10000 Edisons because Tesla > Edison.

 

[Doug_G]

3T... that's a REALLY STRONG magnetic field! Gotta love superconductors.

 

[JPP]

Wen you are working around superconductive MR systems (3T or even 1.5T) you really need to have your smart hat on. Small ferrous objects become lethal projectiles, larger objects cause major havoc and damage. And you don't just switch it off and on like a light bulb. I've seen it all in over 25 years of practice-some of the stories would curl your hair.

 

[PureAmps]

Wen you are working around superconductive MR systems (3T or even 1.5T) you really need to have your smart hat on. Small ferrous objects become lethal projectiles, larger objects cause major havoc and damage. And you don't just switch it off and on like a light bulb. I've seen it all in over 25 years of practice-some of the stories would curl your hair.

Here's a short video of some folks (recklessly) playing around with a 4T MRI before it is decommissioned:

 

[JPP]

Fun when the magnet is empty and being decommissioned, not so fun when you have a clinical system..and if a patient is in the bore. The other interesting factoid (which PureAmps no doubt already knows) is that if you had an UNshielded system, the increase in apparent force upon an object in your hand or wheeling up to the bore would be gradual, and you might have both time and awareness to avert a bad situation. Essentially all clinical MR systems are magnetically shielded, so they can be sited in a reasonably small space (e.g. MR suite in the hospital). Thus the rate of change of magnetic field strength is compressed over a very short distance close to the bore, and once you realize you made a serious mistake, it's too late for you, the MR system, and sometimes the patient.