Since I first heard about it on a forum back in 2007, I’ve been following with avid interest the progress of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. For any non-physics nerds out there, the LHC is the world’s biggest science experiment – a giant particle accelerator designed to fling proton beams through a 27 km (17 mile) tunnel and then smash them together at nearly the speed of light. Oh, the fireworks!
Collisions inside the bubble chamber. How cool is that!?
The LHC took 20 years to plan and another 10 or so to build, and cost more than €3 billion ($4.2 billion US) in parts and labor. Tons of helium was used to cool the tunnel to –271°C (just 2°C above absolute zero!) and create the right environment to conduct experiments. 1624 superconducting magnets were placed around the tunnel to steer and focus the beams, while 7-meter long carbon cylinders were placed at “off-ramps” inside concrete and iron shields to dump the used beams.
According to the scientists working on the experiment, this not-so-little beauty will unlock the secrets of the universe and explain what happened mere moments after the Big Bang. Or at least tell us about the Higgs boson. And possibly create miniature black holes. No need to worry, though! They predict that the black holes will be too tiny to eat through the earth. Mostly, they’ll just collapse in on themselves before doing any damage. At least, that’s what the models say.
Despite the doomsday warnings of the fringe, hordes of giddy geeks (like me) and excited scientists watched in awe on September 10, 2008 as the LHC was switched on for its first test run. At 10:28am, the first clockwise beam of protons successfully made it’s run through the tunnel, with the second anti-clockwise beam following later that day. Both beams were successfully dumped and everyone was stoked to see the experiments begin!
Sadly, just 9 days later an electrical fault caused liquid helium in the tanks to leak into the tunnel and damaged some of the steering magnets. The experiment had to be shut down while scientists warmed the tunnel up enough for workers to replace the magnets and the wiring, then cooled it again, knocking out at least 2 months of operating time. By then it was so late in the year that it was decided to work on the project through the winter months instead of restarting. After repairing what broke in the first place, CERN also installed safety measures for the helium tanks and a quench-protection system for the magnets, and has been checking other components to ensure their dependability for future experiments.
The complex machine is tentatively scheduled to begin live testing in September of 2009, a year after its debut. An official date for powering on will be announced by Steve Myers on July 2, 2009.
To watch the uber-awesome LHC RAP, follow this link
