CERN atom smasher restarts
Scientists have restarted the world's most powerful atom-smasher overnight, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said, as they launch a new bid to uncover the secrets of the universe.
"The LHC is on its way again. First beam of 2010 circulated in each direction by 04.10 CET," said CERN in a tweet on its website.
The €3.9 billion Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was shut down in December to ready it for collisions at unfathomed energy levels. It was run for a few weeks after being successfully revived from a 14 month breakdown.
The particle collider -- inside a 27-kilometre (16.8-mile) tunnel straddling the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva -- is aimed at understanding the origins of the universe by recreating the conditions that followed the Big Bang.
In the weeks before the technical shutdown in December, the collider achieved over a million particle collisions and accelerated proton beams to energy levels never reached before, according to CERN.
Collisions reached a world record energy level of 2.36 teraelectronvolts (TeV), already allowing scientists to gather data.
But CERN now wants to reach 7.0 TeV to try to recreate conditions close to the Big Bang, and run it at those levels for 18 to 24 months.
Subsequently the scientists aim to reach the LHC's design energy of 14 TeV, but only following another long technical shutdown in the second half of 2011.
Before the LHC experiment, no particle accelerator had exceeded 0.98 TeV. One TeV is the equivalent to the energy of motion achieved by a flying mosquito.
The LHC, a global effort, aims to resolve physics problems including "dark matter" and "dark energy", thought to account for 96 percent of the cosmos.
The scientists' Holy Grail is to find a theorised component called the Higgs Boson, commonly called the "God Particle", which would explain how particles acquire mass.
The experiment, the fruit of decades of experiments and research by physicists from around the world, has even attracted Hollywood in recent years with the fictional blockbuster "Angels and Demons".
18 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Pule' Carmel
Mar 2nd 2010, 19:32
Most people do not know where science might lead us. When Queen Victoria ( I think it was her) was told of the telephone invention of being able to talk at a distance through wires, she said, " Who wants to talk through wires, and any way it is impolite, to talk and not face each other during a convesation!!!"
Pule' Carmel
Mar 2nd 2010, 19:23
One TeV is the equivalent to the energy of motion achieved by a flying mosquito. 2.36 TeV is the WORLD RECORD and one hopes that CERN reaches 14 TeV.
Now a road track 27 kilometers long costing 3.9 billion euros to achieve the energy of FOURTEEN MOSQUITOES is quite bewildering. I just wonder how much length and cost would be required to equalise the BIG BANG????
If people just consider the wonders of Both outer and innerspace they would occupy themselves with fascination . In Malta we find it quite exciting and a lot of suspence to wait to see what happens next monday when the cout answers the questions brought out in the Daphne Caruana Galizia/ Consuelo Scerri Herrera case.
Both CERN and our COURTS provide a degree of suspence I guess, in a sort of different way!!
J. Debono
Mar 2nd 2010, 18:49
@ Justin Meli
Science has given us humans a great amount of answers.
However the basic law of physics states "energy cannot be created nor destroyed"
Can you answer my question now :-
"where did all this energy come from?" - either science is right and the reply is GOD, or science is wrong and has to be written all over again!
T.gauci
Mar 2nd 2010, 17:44
@Justin Meli
how does this disproves God's existence ? i wonder if God had problems with his atom smasher
Alex Ellul
Mar 2nd 2010, 14:22
@Justin Meli: I cannot see any logic in your comment. There is no connection between CERN's Hadron collidor and proof for God's existence, even though the particle under investigation, scientifically known as Higg's Boson, was nicknamed by scientists as God's particle. Kindly note that science and religion do not mix. Science is based on skepticsm, religion is based on belief and, any belief, whether in God or His nonexistence, cannot be proven or disproved by any scientific method and in fact no scientists or theologian has ever managed to prove or disprove the existence of a creator God even though the discovery of the big bang that created the universe nearly proved such an existence, putting all atheists in a quandary.
In my opinion, your comment proves one thing: That you may need to read a book about how science works.
t farrugia
Mar 2nd 2010, 09:19
i would also like to add to people saying that it advances technology which in turn will lead to better standards of living. i agree 100%. also what some fail to mention is that these types of projects create jobs which create more jobs due to the domino effect of economics. imagine NASA disbanded so they give the same expenditure to the poor, then thousands of jobs would be lost which will mean less people spending leading to more loss of jobs....so in fact projects like this DO help the economy, apart from the potential advances in technology as mentioned by many....also i agree with Ray Micallef. we've been sending millions for years to poor countries and they have always remained the same because instead of using money to build a soceity to sustain themselves they use it for weapons!!!!
Justin Meli
Mar 1st 2010, 21:02
the fact that this could prove that no god created the universe is already enough for me.
well spent money if this could mean the end of all religions hence end of wars.
r cutajar
Mar 1st 2010, 18:30
dear all such an experiment has huge and priceless benefits to mankind .As one might imagine ,just think about it the thousands of hours these scientists have spent together and the knowledge shared among those brilliant minds without doubt mankind will benefit
Alex Ellul
Mar 1st 2010, 16:41
@N. Borg. Let me give you just one example: When electricity was discovered, one scientist of that time commented: This is a useless invention, there's no use for it. As we all know, time proved this scientist wrong. If Homo Sapiens had, during the past millenia, the same attitude as yours, we would still be living in caves. Beware the doomsayers and do not be afraid of science. It's our future.
Ray Micallef
Mar 1st 2010, 16:37
@ N. Borg The world donates over €3380 billion annually to the poor of the world in grants and social welfare. That's double what it cost the world to patch the financial meltdown - every year! What good has it served us? - Nothing! They are still ungrateful! What good has it served them? - Nothing! They've grown lazy. They eat the food they're given, then they sit back and cry for more! They spend much of it on drugs, weapons and civil war! They are still as ignorant as watermelon. Helping the poor is a poor investment. So I suggest stopping this useless hemorrhage of World funds and do more science instead. €3.9 billion is small change but the world will be a better place this way.
Mark Galea
Mar 1st 2010, 15:58
@N. Borg My friend, if you are talking about poverty, note that as long as human beings will exist on earth, there will be poor people. Poor people are a result of egoism, and wars. Should we manage to reduce wars and egoism, we would not have poor people. While scientific advancement may help to produce more food, it is its distribution that is a problem.
Mark-Anthony Fenech
Mar 1st 2010, 15:30
@N. Borg: The world does not consist of the poor only, holding back science from further advancement is far more criminal than the existence of poverty..
Alan Tua
Mar 1st 2010, 15:09
@ N Borg: Any piece of technology you have ever used and will ever use, is based on a physical theory which started off as an idea in someone's head, went on to be proved experimentally and then transformed into something useful. Literally any piece of technology: from electricity to motorised transport to electronics to telecommunications etc etc the list goes on. What CERN does is the middle step, experimentally proving modern theories of (particle) physics.
With regards to the cost: 3.6 billion euros is a lot of money true. However: CERN have very strict contract rules so a lot of the money is recycled back to the countries which contribute money to it. Also one can compare with the cost of a single Nimitz-class air-craft carrier at 4,6 billion dollars or 100 billion dollars for the International Space Station. For the amount of science that the LHC will generate the price is right.
Alan
PS: Over and above the science there are all the spin-offs which particle physics, and CERN in particular, has given the world such as the World Wide Web :)
N. Borg
Mar 1st 2010, 13:36
@ Mark Galea
My friend, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.
I did not put in comments relating to war and politics, my interest was genuine stemming from my concern of the poverty that can be found around the world.
Mark Galea
Mar 1st 2010, 13:32
@N. Borg
My dear friend, we have a higher standard of living when compared to 1,000 years ago (or 100 years ago, etc) because some people have stopped to think and experiment instead of waging wars or practice politics. No one can imagine the direct results of such experiments, but such knowledge may create breakthroughs in many fields, such as energy production, advanced medical machinery, better materials for building, etc
Mark Galea
Mar 1st 2010, 13:27
@N. Borg
My dear friend, we have a higher standard of living when compared to 1,000 years ago (or 100 years ago, etc) because some people have stopped to think and experiment instead of waging wars or practice politics. No one can imagine the direct results of such experiments, but such knowledge may create breakthroughs in many fields, such as energy production, advanced medical machinery, better materials for building, etc
N. Borg
Mar 1st 2010, 11:29
Excuse my ignorance on this matter but seems to me a huge waste of money. Can someone explain, in simple English terms, what the benefit of all this is?
Rob Alcock
Mar 1st 2010, 07:48
Seems like a lot of money was spent to achieve 14 TeV