Cool pics from CERN

[bigscreenbob]

My sis used to work there- they are about to crush an atom or develop a black hole or something thats waayyy over my head.
She now works in BC working on computers that crunch the data when they do whatever they do. Check them out.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200..._collider.html

[eljay]

Very cool pics - thanks for the link!

The CMS is one of two general-purpose LHC experiments designed to explore the physics of the Terascale, the energy region where physicists believe they will find answers to the central questions at the heart of 21st-century particle physics.

Don't they know these answers can be found by just reading the Bible and praying?

It'll be interesting to see what information will result from the tests...and what new questions might be raised.

[supervij]

Those are some really cool pics; thanks for the link, bob! It's nice to finally see what the place looks like -- I just finished reading Flashforward, by Robert J. Sawyer (a Canadian sci-fi author), and the story takes place at CERN. Nice to "see" what he was talking about!

cheers,
supervij

[BCScott]

3 days, 4 hours and 18 minutes until they throw the switch!

[cdn_tbird]

Awesome pics. Especially loved the one of the server room with the CRT in the middle of the aisle. Guess they didn't have the budget for an LCD monitor.

[jwt873]

Great pictures.. Looks like it was inspired by the movie 'Stargate'

[DJDiggler]

That is incredible! I am awed at the achievement the LCH represents for mankind... things like the Pyramids and the Great wall are known as wonders of the world yet are simple buildings, all they required was basic knowledge and a whole lot of manpower. The incredible complexity and scope of the LCH make it a definite wonder of our age. This thing can probe the very beginnings of the universe!

Neat (and scary) facts: (from Popular Science)

- the 1 millimetre wide beam of protons travelling just under the speed of light has the same momentum as a 400 ton train going 95MPH. In event of some massive control failure it will plow through the facility releasing cascades of lethal radiation on it's way. (good thing it's underground)

- Despite massive shielding and controls the tunnel is filled with radiation equivalent to a full body CT scan, due to stray protons smashing into various parts of the LHC. (Obviously no one goes in during a test)

- Parts of the LCH are colder than outer space, yet the collision point is 100,000 times hotter than the core of the sun! The vacuum the beams travel through is less than that on the moon!

More great facts here

[99gecko]

From the comments on the article:

I know how the big bang happened. The universe that existed before us, ran a Large Hadron Collider experiment.

Thought that was funny so I'm passing it along.

[bolmsted]

I somehow expect a liquid metal cyborg to be stuck to the side.

very cool pictures.

[oc3lot]

Once this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious $hit!

[polaris]

I wonder how they account for natural movement of the geology. It sounds like it would FUBAR their measurements if things were off by just 1 micro meter.

[DJDiggler]

Yea I've read they had to take into account the earth tides in the earth caused by the moon and sun even, we're talking minuscule amounts here. And the old 26.7km LEP expanded a whopping 2mm in circumference with the seasons (2mm out of 26.7km!). I'm sure having experience with other large accelerators really helped them in takeing all these factors into account.