As far as the tile roofs, they last a long time. It isn't the tile that is the issue, it's the felt (or paper) underneath that gets replaced. Mine is 25 years old, has not been replaced yet. Some neighbors have had theirs redone, but many have not as yet. 04-06-2011, 12:00 AM.
Smaller particle accelerators are used in a wide variety of applications, including particle therapy for oncological purposes, radioisotope production for medical diagnostics, ion implanters for manufacture of semiconductors, and accelerator mass spectrometers for measurements of rare isotopes such as radiocarbon.
How an accelerator works. Electric fields and radiofrequency cavities accelerate particles inside accelerators, while powerful magnets focus or steer the particle beams. Accelerators were invented in the 1930s to provide energetic particles to investigate the structure of the atomic nucleus.