New Accident in Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN

There has just been an unfortunate accident in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN

- Unfortunate that is for the protons that just had a head on collision.

Yes folks, the LHC has just had its first collision - and even though it was just a small one (in relative terms) of 900 billion electron volts they expect to have one at 1.2 trillion electron volts (TeV) early next year and then build up to some very decent collisions of 7 TeV after that.

What might we discover from the LHC?

Anything from our whole theory of physics is fundamentally wrong - and we need to go back to the drawing board.
  - Or - Confirmation of new particles such as the Higgs Boson, how mass and gravity work, how to control it, other dimensions and even the currently science fiction inspired anti-gravity or the thrill of intergalactic travel.
While that last one might be a long way off, however it goes, the collisions are going to be exciting!

Speaking of accidents - the LHC has had its share

When the LHC was first turned on back in September 2008 - an electrical connector failed causing a superconducting magnet to overheat. This caused a 'small leak' that allowed 2 tonnes of liquid helium to rush into the tunnel - an event violent enough to shift a multi tonne magnet 30cm of its mount.

Then, more recently as a few months ago, a bird dropped a piece of baguette into a cooling system that caused some overheating - the LHC was not operational at the time, but if it was it would have caused massive damage.
The fact that the LHC was nearly taken out by a baguette, led some scientists to postulate that the elusive Higgs Boson particle did not want to be found and was preventing this by travelling back through time to prevent it's discovery. The only way this theory can be disproved is by the LHC never coming on line and discovering the Higgs Boson.

Ahhh the thrill of a baguette and a good time travel paradox...

So... Some of the more interesting and odd beat news about the LHC over the last year or so...

We had a publicity photo which had a mysterious person in the background (later identified as Sandro Bonacini) with an uncanny resemblance to Gordon Freeman from the videogame Half Life.

Half Life is set in a research facility like the LHC, which subsequently makes a rift into another dimension allowing various alien nasties to come through - including 'Head Crabs' that take over the mind of their victim.

The internet community was nice enough to send Sandro Bonacini a 'Head Crab', crowbar and Half Life manual to re-enact some Half Life scenes - and for training purposes to combat the inevitable alien invasion...

This is a great demonstration of scientists getting the public, especially the young 'scientists of tomorrow' to take interest in the wonder of science...

Let's face it - science and discovery kicks ass... and if you don’t agree, then just switch off your computer now. Go try and find something to do that doesn't involve it... bet you can't...

Another great example of the fun of science is the "Large Hadron Collider Rap" made and performed by scientists at the LHC.

Brilliant stuff, and it’s a great summary of what the LHC does.

The scientist Katherine McAlpline who goes by the name of Alpinekat responsible for that video, was also responsible for tracking down the Gordon Freeman lookalike and getting the crowbar and Half Life 'Head-Crab' photo shoot completed.

Another example of Science Rap is the Carl Sagan song about the universe here.

So on to the fun, and the thrill of discovery - Science is about to make a new leap forward!

[Proton cartoon Via Geek & Poke]

Comments (1)

Reply

1 Wednesday, 25 November 2009 11:00

Peter P

A baguette? you are friggin kidding me!
The LHC Rap video makes it all clear - that does "Rock me in the Head"

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