madison

Large Hadron Collider powers up

David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk | September 10, 2008 6:03 AM PDT

Summary

The world's largest machine will switch on for the biggest scientific experiment of the 21st century on Wednesday morning.
Early Wednesday morning, scientists at Cern turned on the Large Hadron Collider for the first time. Within one hour, a particle beam had been successfully circulated through the machine.

The world's most powerful particle accelerator to date, the system is designed to recreate the conditions that existed a millionth of a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, or the birth of the universe. By smashing particles together at unprecedented--in man-made terms--energies, the scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) hope to answer questions such as why some subatomic particles are heavier than others, and how particles were formed in the first place.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is the world's largest machine, is housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel located 100m under the Alps, straddling the Swiss-French border. Wednesday will see the first attempt to circulate a particle beam around the entire ring, but no attempt will be made to create collisions on this date. Rather, the work towards that goal with the LHC and its detectors will continue after this event.

One specific particle that the scientists want to detect is the 'Higgs boson'. The confirmation of the existence of this as-yet-unobserved particle would validate much of what is currently believed to be true about physics.

The LHC is the world's largest cryogenic installation. In preparation for Wednesday's initiation, 37,000 tons of equipment had to be cooled down by 300°C to 1.9° above absolute zero (-271°C), using the world's most advanced superconducting magnet technologies. LHC's conception and construction involved 10,000 people from 500 institutes in 50 countries.

Elements of the LHC system were successfully tested in August to ensure exact synchronization, and Cern staff are confident that the final initiation will go according to plan.

Cern's first particle accelerator, the proton Synchro-Cyclotron, was built in 1957. The LHC, by contrast, will be seven times more powerful than any existing particle accelerator today. Within the next few years, Cern hopes to be colliding particles at 30 times the intensity of older particle accelerators.

The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has invested more than half a billion pounds in the project. This includes the UK's subscription to Cern and the funding that has gone into the UK institutes that were involved in the construction of the LHC's detectors. It also includes the GridPP, the UK's contribution to the grid computing network established to handle the vast amounts of data that will be generated by the project. Through GridPP, the UK is providing 15 percent of the computing power in that network.

"We are trying to find out what everything is made of; what we are made of; the smallest pieces inside us; every atom," Peter Watkins, professor of the University of Birmingham's School of Physics and Astronomy, said in a statement.

"We're also trying to understand how the universe started," Watkins continued. "We're trying to understand what happened shortly after the Big Bang, and we need to look at these tiny particles to understand that better. However, to achieve this, when we study things at the Large Hadron Collider, we need equipment which challenges technology and industry to the limit. And we push electronics and computers right to the leading edge of the subject."

Talkback Most Recent of 29 Talkback(s)

  • well if it goes wrong we will have a nice trip
    they are afraid that a collision at the power could create micro black hole ( nice )

    a modern science i love it
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Quebec-french
    10th Sep 2008
  • RE: Large Hadron Collider powers up
    Too bad you are wrong. The test today was beam circulation. Beam collisions are still down the road, let alone at energy levels above what the tevatron has already archived. Fact checking is always a good thing.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    cmosentine
    10th Sep 2008
  • No...YOU are wrong sport.
    Read his article again...he states in the third paragraph...

    "Wednesday will see the first attempt to circulate a particle beam around the entire ring, but no attempt will be made to create collisions on this date. Rather, the work towards that goal with the LHC and its detectors will continue after this event."
    ZDNet Gravatar
    IT_Guy_z
    10th Sep 2008
  • The whole point . . .
    is that it is the COLLISION that might cause the Micro Black hole, not turning on the accelerator itself. The article makes it sound like everyone who has a concern is just a nutjob, when the event they're worried about hasn't happened yet.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    JLHenry
    10th Sep 2008
  • I think you misread
    Quoting from the story: "Wednesday will see the first attempt to circulate a particle beam around the entire ring, but no attempt will be made to create collisions on this date." (No changes were made.)
    ZDNet Gravatar
    andy.smith@...
    10th Sep 2008
  • Coincidence?
    This morning a rather large man in a leather jacket and sunglasses was at my door asking for John Connor...I sent him to my ex wife's house.

    Maybe it's nothing.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    itanalyst2@...
    10th Sep 2008
  • LMAO
    omg, that's too funny.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jjbrune
    11th Sep 2008
  • ZDNet Gravatar
    People
    10th Sep 2008
  • your right
    it will take it a while to reach the desired speed before they fire the lead. I would think that testing will take quite a while.

    wink
    ZDNet Gravatar
    rcpr@...
    10th Sep 2008
  • RE: Large Hadron Collider powers up
    After they're done with their collision tests I'd like
    to hitch a ride in that thing.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    fox.kenji
    10th Sep 2008
  • Power supplies x1700
    All my lights dimmed this morning.
    I am not a naysayer, I love this stuff.
    However, M theory and collisions of membrains creating a universe expansion is playing with power that we admitedly know nothing about.
    Black hole not being an issue in the experiment
    but stranglets are, and symetrons and of course the missing boson.
    If they cannot creat the beam crossing it could be becuase time has folded back on itself and won't allow it.
    John Connors lives on.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Arne111
    10th Sep 2008
  • RE: Large Hadron Collider powers up
    Some people, including some scientists, fear that when
    started up, it will create a "black hole" that will
    start swallowing up everything around it, including,
    eventually, the Earth and our solar system.

    Here's a live feed from two of the cameras at the LHC.
    The test is due to start soon...

    www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html
    ZDNet Gravatar
    j1shalack@...
    11th Sep 2008
  • RE: Large Hadron Collider powers up
    As a cruncher on the project LHC@home, I am thrilled at the success of the start up.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    richardmitnick
    11th Sep 2008
  • HAHAHA...
    That's a funny video...
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Big_Johnson
    12th Sep 2008
  • RE: Large Hadron Collider powers up
    They're Just up to their usual Trick,

    Playing GOD to Disprove Him.

    So that they can then appease our fallen

    conscience and thereby justify

    Any behaviour or activities,

    right or Wrong...

    But,

    they will then find Us,

    disapproved of God!


    NO wonder that the End Is Very near,

    Likely Only 10+ - years left Total
    ZDNet Gravatar
    bmaddigan
    14th Sep 2008

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