| A HIGH VOLTAGE VISIT Are you worried about the cost of your electricty bill? If so, relax ,for a guided tour of the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) on 15 November revealed that they have to pay CHF 45,000 a day to power their premises and experimental equipment!! In the space of three hours, a group of BRA members, limited to 20 people for tour purposes, was introduced to the fascinating world of particle physics by a highly knowledgeable Bulgarian physicist. Soon after its establishment in 1954, work at the laboratory went beyond the study of the atomic nucleus into higher-energy physics, which is mainly concerned with the study of interactions between particles. The laboratory is therefore commonly referred to as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, which better describes the research being performed at CERN. Most of the CERN’s activities are currently directed towards operating the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and the experiments for it. The LHC represents a large-scale, worldwide scientific cooperation project. The LHC circular tunnel, which is 27km in circumference, is located between 50 to 150 metres underground, in the region between Geneva Airport and the nearby Jura Mountains. The aim of the experiments is to take mankind to a deeper understanding of the Universe. The LHC is designed to accelerate two beams of particles in opposite directions to more than 99.9% the speed of light. Smashing the beams together creates showers of new particles for physicists to study. Four huge detectors observe the collisions so that the physicists can explore new territory in matter, energy, space, and time As part of our tour, we visited the detector known as ALICE and were able to see young researchers of many nationalities crouched over their computers observing collisions on their screens. However, the volume of data generated is so enormous, a worldwide network of computers is utilized to analyse it. |
Michael Type