superconducting magnets

The Hunt for the God Particle

Physicists are praying that their 4-mile-long machine will detect a tiny bit of matter so elusive that some consider it practically divine.

Buried beneath the plains of Illinois is a monster of a machine designed to mince matter into its most fundamental parts. It's called a particle accelerator, and it relies on 1,000 giant superconducting magnets, 700 scientists and engineers, and more than $10 million in annual electricity bills to keep on running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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