If you regularly park in multi-storey or underground car parks, you might have noticed that some sections are sometimes coned off.
Often, it can be really annoying, especially when every spot is taken and you could easily grab a space by simply moving the cones.
It's one of those things we never really think too much about, and often presume it's simply the result of maintenance work or another boring reason we know nothing about.
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But if you've ever been tempted to simply move the cones out of the way, we'd recommend thinking again.
One person has revealed one of the actual reasons, and it's blown our minds to be honest.
Over on Reddit, one user shared an image of some empty spaces in a car park, which have been restricted using four cones and a chain.
Above, there's also a wooden platform and in the title of the post, the user explains why this is.
"Parking garage space blocked off because of MRI machine above," the post reads.
Naturally, you really wouldn't want an MRI machine falling on your car, but many people wondered if there were other reasons why it was coned off.
One wrote: “This is actually quite interesting. Though you’d think they’d make the blocking a more substantial permanent setup.”
And another said: “The magnetic field of an MRI falls off to really low levels quite quickly when you get farther away from the magnet.
“If cars would park here, they would have 0 issue. However, they would change the shape of the magnetic field and thus the homogeneity of the magnetic field inside the magnet. Which would cause image quality issues.”
However, other people weren't so sure the MRI machine falling or causing issues in quality were the actual reasons why the area was restricted.
Although they did recognise it was probably down to the scanner being there.
They explained: “While this looks interesting, it's actually not due to the MRI above being on as they would certainly install some actual fence posts and not risk someone driving through weak tape and over a small cone.
“It's because they had to lift the main magnet through from the level below. MRI machines can't really be tipped much at all and if I had to guess you have to go up a ramp to get to this level from street level.
“So they had to cut through 2 levels to lift the machine up into the room. The room is shielded with giant copper sheets and the magnetic field drops off really quite quickly around the machine, so the cars aren't a worry.
"The plywood is to prevent water or chunks of concrete that might fall off the replacement slab onto cars below. The electrical wires for the lights would be a way bigger concern than cars several feet below it.”
The more you know...
Topics: Cars, Community, Science, Technology, Weird
Lucy Devine