HIAF – The Electronic Peashooter (1984)

By July 1st, 1984

This film looks at a new resource available to the minerals and energy industries, a machine which provides detailed information at atomic and molecular levels.

To remain competitive, Australia’s minerals and energy industries have had to keep in the forefront in the application of advanced research technology.

This film looks at a new resource available in these areas, a machine which provides detailed information at atomic and molecular levels. Such information can provide valuable clues to hidden ore bodies, or can help determine the critical composition of solar cells. The machine is called the Heavy Ion Analytical Facility, or HIAF, and it’s based at CSIRO’s Division of Mineral Physics in Sydney.

The heart of the facility is a particle accelerator, which bombards samples of minerals or other matter with charged particles, or ions, travelling at speeds up to a tenth of the speed of light. These unimaginably tiny events are made ‘visible’ in the film by the clever use of computer-generated animation.