Cern tunnel machine gets key part

[BJ_M]

The first of some 5,000 magnets that will bend particles at near light-speed around a huge tunnel under Switzerland and France has been lowered into place.

It is part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a powerful machine being built in the 27km-long accelerator facility at the famous Cern lab, near Geneva.

The LHC is designed to probe beyond our current understanding of physics.

The giant superconducting dipole magnet was lowered 50m down a special shaft at 1300 GMT on Monday.

Delivery of the 15m-long, 35-tonne structure to its final location marks the beginning of LHC installation.

Powerful fields

The LHC will recreate the searing-hot conditions that existed just fractions of a second after the Big Bang.

Scientists hope this will enable them to see new physics, and discover the sought-after Higgs boson, or "God particle", which explains why matter has mass.

Researchers may even find new dimensions and generate mini-black holes.

When completed, two parallel tubes will carry high-energy proton particles in opposite directions around the LHC tunnel at super-fast speeds.



The superconducting coils in the LHC's dipole magnets allow them to carry extremely high currents without any loss of energy.

This enables them to produce the powerful fields required to control the trajectory of the protons around the Cern tunnel.

To reach a superconducting state, the magnets have to be cooled to a temperature of -271C, close to absolute zero, the theoretical lowest temperature attainable.

In addition to big dipole magnets, the LHC will be equipped with hundreds of other, smaller magnets.

Once in position, all magnets will be connected to a cryogenic system using superfluid helium to maintain the accelerator at the required super-cold temperature.

After they are lowered underground, the magnets need to be conveyed through a transfer tunnel to the main LHC tunnel, which lies at a depth varying between 50m and 150m.

Vehicles have been specially designed to deliver the magnets to their final destinations.

The narrowness of the tunnel complicates these handling operations, making it impossible for two loads to pass each other.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4327161.stm

[yoda313]

Hello,

Sweet

Always been a bit of a science buff. Not that I always understand the heavier stuff but I appreciate the efforts that go into it.

Kevin

[BJ_M]

i guess credit cards get wiped

[yoda313]

Hello,



Luckily dvds are immune to magnets right????? I mean they're just plastic.....

I guess they can't use harddrive mp3 players near that thing though - poof! No more tunes

Kevin

[AlecWest]

i guess credit cards get wiped

I would think so. Several years ago, I was a computer operator (ancient stuff - DEC PDP11). And, one of my duties was daily backups on large reel-to-reel tapes. The "hard drives" were about the size of a small refrigerator.

Anyhoo, after a few days doing the job, I noticed my ATM cards stopped working. And, I finally figured out that it was my own fault. While I was waiting for a backup to complete, I'd lean back against one of the drives ... with my wallet in my back pocket, pressed firmly against the drive ... and inches away from some pretty powerful magnets.

[ZAPPER]

Cool stuff!


God particle-How mini before it becomes the next big bang?

Mini black hole-How mini before it sucks the collider in?

Can it split carbon? Doom on you!

All cool stuff. I like to read about it and hear good lectures on physics. But I got to admit that I know enough about it to know that I am stupid when it comes to the real thing (or is that the theory and not the real thing?)

I have seen some cool stuff in some labs, from electron beam welding, vacume manufacturing processes and even a guy fry an electron beam microscope.(OK the last one is really just an urban legend) But I do dig the things that science is doing. If only I had applied myself.

[yoda313]

Hello,

If only I had

HAD A BRAIN

D:

Sorry - couldn't help myself :P :P :P

But yeah science has truly progressed in leaps and bounds hasn't it????

Kevin

[ZAPPER]

Hello,

If only I had

HAD A BRAIN

D:

Sorry - couldn't help myself :P :P :P

But yeah science has truly progressed in leaps and bounds hasn't it????

Kevin

Brain, I got. It is the mind that does the thinking!

It's OK little dude, I have taken cheap shots at you before. I dig outer space too.

[offline]

i guess credit cards get wiped

I would think so. Several years ago, I was a computer operator (ancient stuff - DEC PDP11). And, one of my duties was daily backups on large reel-to-reel tapes. The "hard drives" were about the size of a small refrigerator.

Anyhoo, after a few days doing the job, I noticed my ATM cards stopped working. And, I finally figured out that it was my own fault. While I was waiting for a backup to complete, I'd lean back against one of the drives ... with my wallet in my back pocket, pressed firmly against the drive ... and inches away from some pretty powerful magnets.

Ha.. I've used one of those. I used to call it "The Fridge". Yes those
"copper drives" used to put out more RF and MI than washing
machines. I used the PDP11e - nice machine. I recall purging a
whole reel of sports data (by error) due to one of those Winchesters. Those drives could kill a spring based watch!