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Bing Bang machine Large Hadron Collider revived
by Jaspreet Virk - November 21, 2009 - comments
When the protons collide with enormous energy, they will give insight into dark matter, and recreate forces and conditions that existed when the universe was less than a trillionth of a second old
New York, November 21 -- After a year of repair work, scientists at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have switched on the mighty Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The scientists restarted the LHC step by step to avoid technical snags, which led to shutdown of the collider last year.
LHC was initially started on Sept. 10, 2008, aimed at reproducing the conditions of Bing Bang. But due to leakage of helium caused by electric fault, the experiment had to be switched off nine days later.
Beams of protons fired
But finally scientists at CERN succeeded in firing the beams of protons clockwise across the 17 mile particle accelerator located beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland.
The process of starting the collider was much faster than anticipated and the scientists were able to send the first beam of proton at about 10 p.m. Friday.
James Gillies, spokesman for the CERN was quoted by Associated Press as saying, “Some of the scientists had gone home and had to be called back in.”
After two hours, scientists fired another beam in the opposite direction. As the experiment progresses further, proton beams will cross paths, collide into one another vigorously.
"It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again," said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. "We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way."
Collision to recreate conditions after Bing Bang
The first collision is expected to occur at injection energy of 450 billion electron volts.
As beams of protons travel in opposite direction, they will gain energy with every lap. The LHC is expected to run with more energy, at nearly 1.1 trillion electron volts, which is more that the energy of the Tevatron, currently the most powerful accelerator at Fermilab near Chicago.
When the protons collide with enormous energy, they will give insight into dark matter and recreate forces and conditions that existed when the universe was less than a trillionth of a second old.
Teams of physicists from around the world will analyze the particles created as the result of collision.
There are many theories as to what could be the outcome of the collision. Whatever the results are, one thing is certain, the experiment will surely lead to the emergence of a new world of physics, describing the working of the Universe.