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Demystifying the Particle Collider
Explaining the world’s most expensive science experiment
By Uko Etim
Some scientists had previously argued that there was a chance that experiments with the LHC could spawn a black hole, which alarmists claimed would increase in size and devour chucks of matter until the entire planet was gone.
As many of you may know, one hundred meters underneath the border of France and Switzerland, 111 international scientists and engineers have been attempting to find an explanation for the make-up of the universe by conducting the most expensive science experiment in history.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was created to solve questions about the universe, most importantly, to answer questions scientists have always had concerning mass.
“Lets recall some basic physics," said University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Assistant Physics Professor Luis Anchordoqui. "The earth has four fundamental forces: electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force, and gravity. The Hadron Collider will hopefully provide answers about gravity, perhaps by proving the existence of the Higgs (god) particle,” Anchordoqui said.
Neil Jackson, the LHC’s project director said in an interview with SpaceDaily.com, “Using the LHC we are aiming to discover the Higgs particle and hoping to find evidence for so-called super-symmetric particles, which we believe could offer an explanation for the dark matter in the universe,” Jackson explained. “At present, the normal matter that we can see in the universe accounts for only 5 percent of its mass. The origin of the missing mass is unknown, but super-symmetric particles may account for some of it. If we discover these particles, then we are on our way to explaining why the universe is made the way it is.”
This is a very ambitious goal, and most scientists are not guaranteeing that the project will necessarily be an immediate success. Further skepticism came just 9 days after its initial power up, when news outlets reported that faulty wiring had caused operators to shut it down for extensive repair. Regardless, Anchordoqui believes the LHC will ultimately be useful one way or another.
“Right now, scientists are doing this project for fun. It is mostly out of curiosity,” said Anchordoqui. “But, these types of projects lead to innovations. Basic physics has given way to innovations like the compact disc and iPods.”
According to the Hadron Collider’s official United Kingdom website, “LHC accelerates two beams of atomic particles in opposite directions around the 27 km Collider. When the particle beams reach their maximum speed the LHC allows them to ‘collide’ at 4 points on their circular journey. Thousands of new particles are produced when particles collide and detectors, placed around the collision points, allow scientists to identify these new particles by tracking their behavior.”
However, the LHC is not without its critics.
Some scientists had previously argued that there was a chance that experiments with the LHC could spawn a black hole, which alarmists claimed would increase in size and devour chucks of matter until the entire planet was gone.
“A black hole is extremely unlikely,” said Joe Ulicki, a chemistry TA at UWM. “If it did happen it would be very small and would go away quickly. Some think it would grow. But most scientists would agree that the black hole theory is highly unlikely.”
Since the exact long-term implications of the experiment remain to be seen, some still harbor ardent skepticism toward the LHC, which has cost upwards of $10 billion. The science blogging community is understandably filled with a plethora of mixed commentary.
“The thing people need to understand is that no one country is paying for the project,” said Professor Anchordoqui. “It is a collaborative effort.”
CERN (known also as the European Organization for Nuclear Research), consists of 20 European “member states,” and has footed most of the bill. The organization also has received financial and labor contributions from all over the globe.
CERN scientists are credited with inventing the first browsers and software for the World Wide Web, laying the foundation for the internet as we now know it.
Professor Anchordoqui admits that the intricacies of the collider are not easily explainable. He also recommends watching the YouTube video, “LHC Rap,” a “Bill Nye: The Science Guy”-type approach to the device.
“It is a very silly song, but it does adequately explain how the collider works.” said Professor Anchordoqui.
CERN scientists and engineers are already looking beyond the LHC project and have proposed future colliders.
“The LHC is still new, but its successor the International Linear Collider (ILC) is already being discussed,” states the UK site. “The LHC is a ‘discovery’ machine, a general purpose tool that will open up new areas of physics and demonstrate the existence, or not, of predicted new laws and particles.” The ILC would be built to further explore the results of the original collider experiments.
CERN has predicted the collider will be back to full operation by spring 2009 following a planned winter shutdown.
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