If ever there was a science experiment destined to attract superlatives, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European particle physics laboratory, CERN, near Geneva in Switzerland, is it.
The world’s largest and most powerful particle collider, with around 10,000 superconducting magnets installed, the LHC is also the largest single machine in the world. Oh, and just for good measure, the particles fired around its two subterranean circular beam pipes, colliding where the rings intersect, travel fractionally slower than the speed of light, racking up an incredible 11,000 revolutions of the 27 km circumference main ring every second.
The purpose of this surfeit of superlatives? Well it’s not going to be anything ordinary or run-of-the-mill is it? The LHC is designed to enable scientists to put different particle physics theories to the test, as well as to answer mind-boggling questions like whether there are extra dimensions and what’s the nature of dark matter.
Challenging topics all, but the LHC is most definitely delivering results. In its first run of experiments, the collider discovered the long-sought Higgs boson, several new composite particles and other notable firsts, without yet triggering the doomsday phenomena its critics fear most.
* All costs calculated in 2017 $US
