Large Hadron Collider @ CERN

[kinboshi]

It's absolutely huge.

When compared with an electron.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton

1,836 times bigger than an electron apparently.  Which is why the accelerator is so huge and needs so much power to accelerate the protons to that speed.

[Dingdell]

It will take less than 90 microseconds for a proton to travel once around the main ring (a speed of about 11,000 revolutions per second)

How can that be possible? Each circuit of the ring is 17 miles if I've understood it correctly - that's seriously fast.

1. It's approaching the speed of light (a speed that is impossible for anything with mass to travel at). 

How big is a proton?

http://www.buyyourcar.co.uk/used-car/proton/gen-2/jtk_9495_406416.aspx 

2. It should fit in most garages no problem.

1. So is that why it may implode because it can't travel at that speed?

2. FO. 

[kinboshi]

It will take less than 90 microseconds for a proton to travel once around the main ring (a speed of about 11,000 revolutions per second)

How can that be possible? Each circuit of the ring is 17 miles if I've understood it correctly - that's seriously fast.

1. It's approaching the speed of light (a speed that is impossible for anything with mass to travel at). 

How big is a proton?

http://www.buyyourcar.co.uk/used-car/proton/gen-2/jtk_9495_406416.aspx 

2. It should fit in most garages no problem.

1. So is that why it may implode because it can't travel at that speed?

No it won't implode.  What they are doing is sending round two 'streams' of protons (they are also firing other stuff round as well in different experiments) so that when they reach the very high speeds they can collide them into each other.  Some of the energy created in these impacts will be converted into matter, 'exotic' particles that don't normally exist in our universe.  These particles would have existed immediately after the big bang, when the temperature was extremely high, but as the universe has cooled these particles don't have the right conditions to exist.  The LHC will recreate these conditions.

They are also looking at other stuff as well, this is just one thing they are looking at.

However, even though the energy at the sub-atomic level will be huge, in general terms the amount of energy created in the collision will be similar to the that created when you clap your hands.

2. FO. 

[Dingdell]

It will take less than 90 microseconds for a proton to travel once around the main ring (a speed of about 11,000 revolutions per second)

How can that be possible? Each circuit of the ring is 17 miles if I've understood it correctly - that's seriously fast.

1. It's approaching the speed of light (a speed that is impossible for anything with mass to travel at). 

How big is a proton?

http://www.buyyourcar.co.uk/used-car/proton/gen-2/jtk_9495_406416.aspx 

2. It should fit in most garages no problem.

1. So is that why it may implode because it can't travel at that speed?

No it won't implode.  What they are doing is sending round two 'streams' of protons (they are also firing other stuff round as well in different experiments) so that when they reach the very high speeds they can collide them into each other.  Some of the energy created in these impacts will be converted into matter, 'exotic' particles that don't normally exist in our universe.  These particles would have existed immediately after the big bang, when the temperature was extremely high, but as the universe has cooled these particles don't have the right conditions to exist.  The LHC will recreate these conditions.
They are also looking at other stuff as well, this is just one thing they are looking at.

However, even though the energy at the sub-atomic level will be huge, in general terms the amount of energy created in the collision will be similar to the that created when you clap your hands.

2. FO. 

With you so far - but why are they cooling everything to extreme temperatures if the partices can't exist in colder temperatures?

[pokerfan]

just the tunnel itself is pretty amazing, the channel tunnel's pretty cool but anyone can dig in a straight line. a 27 km perfect circle's awesome

The tolerances are within millimetres as well.  Incredible. 

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider

Cooling thousands of tonnes of the machine to within two degrees of absolute zero is a massive feat on its own.

Maybe they just get the Machine to tell MrsB she can't watch Lost...

Alternatively, they could have just built it in Aberdeen.

true...not much for common sense them CERN boys, are they?

Foreigners. 

dont be too affraid people i can asure you there are plenty of Brits working at cern overseeing johnny foreigner and his pals.

[Snatiramas]

With all of this I can't help but think of the football chant

"you don't know what you're doing"

[kinboshi]

With all of this I can't help but think of the football chant

"you don't know what you're doing"

You seem to be a little suspicious of science.  Am I right?

The world's top physicists and scientific minds are involved in this.  I don't know why you'd think they don't know what they're doing?

[kinboshi]

It will take less than 90 microseconds for a proton to travel once around the main ring (a speed of about 11,000 revolutions per second)

How can that be possible? Each circuit of the ring is 17 miles if I've understood it correctly - that's seriously fast.

1. It's approaching the speed of light (a speed that is impossible for anything with mass to travel at). 

How big is a proton?

http://www.buyyourcar.co.uk/used-car/proton/gen-2/jtk_9495_406416.aspx 

2. It should fit in most garages no problem.

1. So is that why it may implode because it can't travel at that speed?

No it won't implode.  What they are doing is sending round two 'streams' of protons (they are also firing other stuff round as well in different experiments) so that when they reach the very high speeds they can collide them into each other.  Some of the energy created in these impacts will be converted into matter, 'exotic' particles that don't normally exist in our universe.  These particles would have existed immediately after the big bang, when the temperature was extremely high, but as the universe has cooled these particles don't have the right conditions to exist.  The LHC will recreate these conditions.
They are also looking at other stuff as well, this is just one thing they are looking at.

However, even though the energy at the sub-atomic level will be huge, in general terms the amount of energy created in the collision will be similar to the that created when you clap your hands.

2. FO. 

With you so far - but why are they cooling everything to extreme temperatures if the partices can't exist in colder temperatures?

The extremely low temperatures are required for the superconducting magnets to work effectively.

[AndrewT]

With you so far - but why are they cooling everything to extreme temperatures if the partices can't exist in colder temperatures?

The heat from the early universe gave the particles the energy to exist. Instead, the LHC is creating the energy by smacking protons together.

It's like if your hands are cold, you would prefer to put a pair of gloves on. But if you don't have gloves, you'll rub them together to make them hot instead.

The reason for making it so cold is because the magnets they use to control where the protons go won't work at a temperature much above absolute zero.

[Graham C]

Is this what they are talking about on 5Live now?  I can only hear bits of it but they are talking about matter and particles etc.

[Graham C]

what are they doing tomorrow anyway?

[AndrewT]

what are they doing tomorrow anyway?

They're switching it on.

[Laxie]

Blowing up Earth.  Spend mad, eat what ya like and don't bother paying any bills today.  No need to thank me.

[AndrewT]

With all of this I can't help but think of the football chant

"you don't know what you're doing"

Let Professor Otto Rossler put your mind at ease.

But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could ‘eat’ the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.

One of them, Professor Otto Rossler, a retired German chemist, said he feared the experiment may create a devastating quasar – a mass of energy fuelled by black holes – inside the Earth.

‘Nothing will happen for at least four years,’ he said. ‘Then someone will spot a light ray coming out of the Indian Ocean during the night and no one will be able to explain it.

‘A few weeks later, we will see a similar beam of particles coming out of the soil on the other side of the planet. Then we will know there is a little quasar inside the planet.’

Prof Rossler said that as the spinning-top-like quasar devoured the world from within, the two jets emanating from it would grow and catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis would occur at the points they emerged from the Earth.

‘The weather will change completely, wiping out life, and very soon the whole planet will be eaten in a magnificent scenario – if you could watch it from the moon. A Biblical Armageddon. Even cloud and fire will form, as it says in the Bible.’

[Graham C]

what are they doing tomorrow anyway?

They're switching it on.

They've not pressed the on button yet?  Uh oh, teething troubles could be a bitch on this baby

Blowing up Earth.  Spend mad, eat what ya like and don't bother paying any bills today.  No need to thank me.

If it's true, I won't be happy!