In Episode 7 of “The Cosmic Monopole”, Danny proposes to try to control the black hole with a fragment of the end-cap toroid which has emerged from ATLAS by plugging it into the mains. Is this feasible?

A toroid is an object shaped like a ring or doughnut. The “end-cap toroid” in ATLAS is part of a system designed to detect particles called “muons”. This requires extremely powerful magnets, and this is created by several superconducting magnets shaped like toroids, including the end-cap. When operating normally it carries a current of thousands of Amps.

Given the facts that the circuits within the fragment would be broken, that the current from the mains would be nowhere strong enough to power the magnet and that the magnet is no longer being cooled by liquid helium (as well as a number of other major factors) this scenario is simply not feasible.

However, it makes for a dramatic story and is fairly easy to imagine the characters holding a tube and pointing it at the black hole like a gun. Also the double-reversal of both the current and the tube, thus making the black hole hit the Earth, adds to the drama and makes Danny feel even more guilt and hatred for Michael because of their joint failure to save the planet.

For more information about the real end-cap toroid, see http://timecrystal.co.uk/pdf/ATLASEndCapToroid.pdf

For pictures see http://www.atlas.ch/photos/magnets-endcap.html