MIS750 2013: Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - Largest particle accelerator

For the Iron Man die hard fans, this large hadron collider has been show in the movie Iron Man 2. This is when Stark need to create a new element by constructing a particle accelerator in his workshop using some metal tubes. When he flips on the switch, two beams of light collide, creating a third beam that Stark steers into a brand new arc reactor. But in the movie are only the concept that they are trying to show to world. In reality, the LHC is much more bigger, powerful and scarier than that.

Scene in Iron Man 2. Source: www.popularmechanics.com

Iron Man 2 particle accelerator scene. Source: Youtube

The large hadron collider (HLC) is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It is first started up on 10 September 2008 by CERN.

Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide. The beams travel in opposite directions in separate beam pipes – two tubes kept at ultra-high vacuum. They are guided around the accelerator ring by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting electromagnets. The electromagnets are built from coils of special electric cable that operates in a superconducting state, efficiently conducting electricity without resistance or loss of energy. This requires chilling the magnets to ‑271.3°C – a temperature colder than outer space. For this reason, much of the accelerator is connected to a distribution system of liquid helium, which cools the magnets, as well as to other supply services (Source: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/accelerators/large-hadron-collider).

Large Hadron Collider. Source: Google Image

Thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the beams around the accelerator. These include 1232 dipole magnets 15 meters in length which bend the beams, and 392 quadrupole magnets, each 5–7 meters long, which focus the beams. Just prior to collision, another type of magnet is used to "squeeze" the particles closer together to increase the chances of collisions. The particles are so tiny that the task of making them collide is akin to firing two needles 10 kilometres apart with such precision that they meet halfway (Source: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/accelerators/large-hadron-collider).