Propaganda is flying around like crazy in this conflict and I think it's time for our community to come together and try to separate the truth from misinformation and chaff. Similar to my last post on the al-Ahli Hospital Massacre, we're going to go with the following format:

For top-level comments, post the claim being made as well as who made the claim (please cite as close to the original source as possible) and, if possible, the date/time that claim was made.

For other comments, please try to either prove or debunk claims using multiple sources and verifiable information.

  • keepcarrot [she/her]
    ·
    8 months ago

    MRIs are basically never turned off because quenching can harm the superconducting magnets (don't ask me how, I don't know).

    According to a brief google, the MRI's magnets are super conducting, so they keep going if the machine is sitting there. Hypothetically, you could unplug the machine and wander it around, though the coils would heat up after a while and stop super conducting (at which point the coil would rapidly heat up and lose its charge as it now has resistance). Liquid helium is used to keep the coils cool and can be vented. The cooling system can also be shut off, but would take a while to start back up and cool everything down to operational levels. I imagine the system (other than the exterior vents) are probably very well insulated, so it doesn't take much power once its cooled (at least maintaining below superconductivity).

    If the MRI was being used day to day, you would (could) not keep guns there. The IDF could easily claim that the MRI had been turned off for a while or something.

    • TheDialectic [none/use name]
      ·
      8 months ago

      The magnet material is real fragile and letting it over heat can damage it and make it less effective. Here in the US I have seen it said that turning a machine off and on can cost tens of thousands of dollars in material and time to get it back up to operating after powering it down

      • keepcarrot [she/her]
        ·
        8 months ago

        Yeah, I've accidentally snapped rare earth magnets under their own power before. I could totally believe a big rare earth magnet would crack under thermal stress.

        Apparently there's both permanent magnet MRIs and liquid-helium cooled copper magnet MRIs, both of which can cost tens of thousands in various failures. But if you don't have any source of electricity what are you going to do?

        The IDF deleted the relevant video lol so they weren't super confident about this one