CERN scientists hope to finally get some particle smashing done, after more than a year of delays and repairs
Posted 11.18.2009 at 4:31 pm
7 Comments
LHC Restart Let's do some science
Cern
A bird dropping a baguette temporarily shut down the $5 billion Large Hadron Collider earlier this month. But scientists have a good feeling about the restart, which is slated for Friday, the The Guardian reports. The world's most powerful particle accelerator has already spent more than a year undergoing repairs because of a coolant leak that damaged some magnets shortly after its debut last September.
The recent bird-baguette incident simply added insult to injury by threatening to overheat parts of the accelerator. That derailed plans by Cern workers in Switzerland to have the supercollider back online earlier this month. Engineers and technicians have spent the past year repairing 53 superconducting magnets that help guide particle beams through the 17-mile-long LHC ring.
Related Articles
Tags
Technology, Jeremy Hsu, baguette, cern, Higgs boson, large hadron collider, lhc, magnets, particle accelerators, physicists, physics, sub-atomic particles, supercollidersPhysicists hope that LHC can eventually push past its troubles to expand the boundaries of physics by finding hints of extra space dimensions and the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle thought to give matter mass. Cern plans to start with low-energy collisions and work up to 2.2 trillion electronvolts by Christmas, or enough for LHC to seize the title of most powerful particle accelerator.
The Guardian adds that LHC should be running on three times as much energy as the current title holder, the Tevatron supercollider near Chicago, by the beginning of 2010. Tevatron physicists have vowed to preempt LHC glory by finding evidence of Higgs boson first.
Either way, hopefully some subatomic particle smashing can satisfy the frustrations of CERN researchers so that they don't go about punching holes in any delicate equipment.
[via The Guardian]
7 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Popular Tags
Technology
138 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Innovation Challenges
Popular Science+ For iPad
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Download Our App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
.jpg)
February 2012: The Future of Fun
Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Technology
- The PopSci Flash Arcade
- Can Treating Your Life As a Game Make You a Better Person?
- Double Fine Productions Smashes Kickstarter Record, Raises $400,000 in Eight Hours for Next Videogame
- The Air Force is Buying iPads To Replace Pilots' Books and Maps
- Tiniest Telecommunications Laser Ever Made, 200 Nanometers Wide
- Video: Creepiest Mirror Ever Displays Ghostly Animal Heads Mimicking Your Facial Expression
- The EU is Considering Using Drones to Police Farm Subsidies, Enforce Environmental Rules
- Video: DARPA's Legged Squad Support System (a.k.a. Big Dog) Goes Outside to Play
- Videogame Designers Envision The Future of Fun
- Gallery: Game Designers Talk About the Future of Fun
Most Emailed
Technology
- Can Treating Your Life As a Game Make You a Better Person?
- Double Fine Productions Smashes Kickstarter Record, Raises $400,000 in Eight Hours for Next Videogame
- The Air Force is Buying iPads To Replace Pilots' Books and Maps
- Tiniest Telecommunications Laser Ever Made, 200 Nanometers Wide
- Video: Creepiest Mirror Ever Displays Ghostly Animal Heads Mimicking Your Facial Expression
- The EU is Considering Using Drones to Police Farm Subsidies, Enforce Environmental Rules
- Video: DARPA's Legged Squad Support System (a.k.a. Big Dog) Goes Outside to Play
- Videogame Designers Envision The Future of Fun
- Gallery: Game Designers Talk About the Future of Fun
- Using Heat to Record Information Could Improve Data Storage Speed a Hundred-Fold
Most Commented
Technology
- Video: A New 'Smart Bullet' Deploys Fins and Guides Itself to a Laser-Designated Target
- Mitt Romney: The Uncanny Candidate?
- Translucent Blue Spheres Rain Down in the UK, Mystifying Meteorologists
- Video: President Obama Test-Fires a Marshmallow Cannon at the White House Science Fair
- Video: PopSci's Favorite Japanese Fembot Gets a Modeling Job at the Mall
- The World's First 3-D, Free-Standing Invisibility Cloak Conceals from All Angles
- Attempt at the World's Highest Skydive, from 120,000 Feet, is Rescheduled for August
- DARPA Invests In Megapixel Augmented-Reality Contact Lenses
- Video: People Flying, Superhero Style, Over New York City
- Video: SpaceX Test-Fires Its New Super-Powerful Capsule Engines
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Have to say two things... FINALLY!
and seriously whats up with the bird, what if it was really some dumb scientist?
Every picture you see of this thing looks like many confusing tubes, coils, and concrete. Where is a picture of where these particles actually travel, i know there has to be a pipe in there that holds all that stuff.
i think it's that silver (greyish) pipe in the very middles of the big blue thing, lol,.....though i agree that's damn freaking confusing
It's the pipe in the very center of the very large one =P ... just a guess. It's a bit rediculous what can cause this machine to stop working, but it is working with very tiny things, so I guess small things can really mess up tiny things. It'd be nice if it just worked though. It's damn expensive.
You think it will be December 21, 2012 when this thing finally comes online? :)
I would like to see it finaly work and do something. right now it is a hugh paper weight.
@Sourdough if it is mayans darn you and lol and i want to nuke this thing because it scares my to much