Saturday November 21, 2009 1:09 PM AEST

Atomic collision on the horizon

  • Email a Friend
  • Print Page
Atomic collision on the horizon
By Egan Orion
Aug 7, 2008 | 1 Comment
Tags: Atomic | collision | on | the | horizon

World's biggest particle accelerator boots up

PARTICLE PHYSICS researchers will be partying on October 21st after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, is inaugurated near Geneva, Switzerland. Alexander Vodopyanov, a scientist working at Russia's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, let the LHC's unveiling date slip to RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Hadrons are the class of relatively massive subatomic particles that includes protons and neutrons, which comprise the nuclei of atoms and are ringed by layered clouds of spinning electrons, which belong to the Lepton class of subatomic particles. [Pay attention at the back there. We may have a test] Other classes of more exotic subatomic particles are Quarks and Bosons. Physics is still learning how they work.

The huge device will boost streams of protons circling in opposite directions up to extremely high energies and smash them together to test the validity of current particle physics theories.

The LHC is called Large because it's the biggest particle accelerator so far constructed, a subterranean tunnel 27 kilometres in diameter that's buried about 100 meters underneath an area straddling the French-Swiss border.

"The collider is to be inaugurated on October 21," said the academician Vodopyanov. "This means at least one test-run of proton beams around the accelerator ring will be conducted prior to inauguration."

He said all eight sections of the collider's large ring have been cooled to temperatures near absolute zero and that a proton beam could be test-fired through one of the sectors as early as this week.

Once the collider gets up and running it will continually generate terabytes of data transmitted to physics research institutions throughout the world for subsequent analysis, pushing the capabilities of state-of-the-art networks and high performance computing (HPC) facilities.

The giant technodonut is a $5.8 billion international project run by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It involves more than 2,000 physics researchers working at hundreds of universities and laboratories in 34 countries.

Particle physicists hope the collider will produce evidence for the existence of the so-called Higgs boson. Observing the Higgs boson could confirm predictions and resolve a number of still unanswered questions about the Standard Model of physics and might help explain how other subatomic particles acquire properties such as mass.

 

theinquirer.net (c) 2009 Incisive Media

 
The latest issue is on sale now!

Want to learn all about Diablo III? Want to find out what the best Solid State Drive is on the market today, and how to look after it? Want to catch up on the latest hardware, games and in depth tech from Australia's best enthusiast mag?

Get your copy today :)
1 Comment
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
R430R
Oct 4, 2008 1:03 PM
Interested to know how it turns out.....my B'day is on the 21st So I hope to wave a certain finger in certain ignorant peoples faces when I let them know how dumbass they are for assuming The LHC was going to blow up the world
....Idiots Stop assuming start learning....or atleast learn how to pay attention (is there irony in there somewhere).....Pieces out all
Login or register to submit a comment.
 
 
 
Atomic Magazine

Issue: 107 | December, 2009

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

Every month we bring you the latest reviews of new technology and PC components, in depth features on everything from overclocking to console hacking, and gaming previews and interviews.
 
Latest Comments
"Done.

.
..
..."
by theflyingswan | Nov 21, 2009 10:41 AM
 
""sudo preupgrade"
...failed to download installer metadata
------------
So ..."
by wlayton27 | Nov 21, 2009 8:16 AM
 
"I thought Vista outlived it's usefulness about the same time it was released , lol"
by mr.gargoyle | Nov 21, 2009 12:28 AM
 
"^ I find with CoD4 that I can jump on an empty server and be joined by 6-12 others before the ..."
by Ezekill | Nov 20, 2009 10:10 PM
 
"check

LOMAC
DCS Black Shark
X-plane"
by Bastard Child | Nov 20, 2009 8:13 PM
Latest User Reviews
Shenmue II
10%
asdfasdf
 
EVGA X58 Classified
90%
great board, a few things could be better
 
EVGA X58 Classified
90%
Gorgeous looking
 
Sapphire 4890
90%
So good, I immediately wanted a second one!
 
MSI 790FX-GD70 motherboard
90%
Allmost the prefect gaming board