While I was taking out the trash today, I noticed something peculiar about an old computer monitor left out by my trash can. It had been smashed open and a component was taken out of it. The missing component was in fact the electron gun - perhaps the coolest part of a cathode ray tube (CRT).
An electron gun is essentially a mini particle accelerator used to speed up and focus electrons into a teeny tiny beam that hits phosphorous atoms on the back of the class of your favorite CRT and causes them to fluoresce (make color). In a physics lab back in undergrad, I was playing with a smaller version of one of these that was running at 600V (low amps). My lab partner zapped himself and was all shaky for the rest of the afternoon. I imagine the volts running through these commercial grade electron guns must be pretty serious.
My best guess is that one of the bums in my area is aspiring to be an evil genius - constructing some sort of death ray I'm sure. My hunch was bolstered upon further investigation of a photo I took of the CRT. As you can see, it's clearly missing the electron gun as a whole (notice the large hole in the tube). However, I also noticed that a piece of the gun remained - the electron source itself (to the right of the hole). So whoever Frankensteined my monitor was after the accelerator component of the electron gun - the magnet array. What sort of dastardly particles could he or she be planning to accelerate?!? Photons? Positrons?!
I'm going to install a Faraday cage around my bedroom - just to be safe.
-David
