Round & round the protons goScientists are celebrating the start of a £5bn experiment to re-create the big bang, which threw space and time into being 13.7bn years ago.Protons will be fired through a 17-mile tunnel under Switzerland and be made to smash into each other. The first beam completed its maiden journey through the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)without incident this morning. The flashing of two white dots on a computer screen indicated that the protons had reached the final point of the world's largest particle accelerator.
This prompted a cheer and the popping of champagne corks - but there was still a long way to go. Scientists fired up the second beam of protons - one of the building blocks of atoms - several hours later. Its journey, which runs in the opposite direction to the first beam, also went off without a hitch. The experiment is aiming to capture an image of the conditions that existed a billionth of a second after the Big Bang. Physicist Dr Alan Barr, who is also in Geneva working on the project, told Sky News:
"The atmosphere is absolutely electric. Things have gone really smoothly." One of the operating officers in Geneva, Verena Kain, told reporters the priority was to get both beams stable before fine-tuning begins. However, scientist have warned that the full physics of the project would not be fully realised for some time. "We are expecting to see the first collisions in the next few weeks. But we won't see the first science for maybe six months, maybe a year," Dr Barr told Sky News. "And we will be double-checking and triple-checking before we publish our results." He added that whatever is discovered could change science in much the same way Albert Einstein's theory of relativity did.
One of the theories being put to the test relates to the Higgs Boson. The particle is a theoretical idea to explain mass in the universe - but it has never been proved. The man who lends his name to the theory, Professor Peter Higgs, said today he believed it was "pretty likely" the particle would be discovered. "The way I put it is that if there isn't anything there, then it means I and a lot of other people no longer understand all the things we understand about these weak and electromagnetic interactions," he said. LHC project leader Lyndon Evans told reporters: "If the Higgs particle isn't there, it opens up more questions than it answers."
It has been called the largest science experiment since Apollo sent its astronauts to the Moon, and the mood at the Cern Research Centre at the start of the day was something akin to Mission Control. Nothing at the centre had been left to chance. Not least the level of secrecy seemingly necessary in the world of particle physics. "We are sending one beam of particles one way, then another the other way," one of the enthusiastic scientists told Sky News. "But we can't tell you which direction we're sending the beam first - that's a secret." Sky News reporter Orla Chennaoui, in Geneva for the switching on of the accelerator, said what was less of a secret was the much-hyped danger that it may create black holes that would eventually tear the Earth apart. "The scientists involved in the experiment do not believe this will happen - and those in the Atlas control room certainly did not look as if they were preparing for the end of the world," she said. "There is no talk of black holes or impending doom - which are regarded as the closest thing to an impossibility as it is possible for scientists to predict. "Instead, they are hoping to unlock the secrets of the universe.
"For those unable to fathom the enormity of recreating the Big Bang, the practical uses for techniques developed here are impressive in themselves. "Pet scanners, radiotherapy machines, even the World Wide Web have been developed thanks to Cern techniques and similar technological advances can be predicted as a result of these experiments. "At a cost of £4.4bn and running up an annual electricity bill of £15m, the big money is on the big question: can this machine help explain the origins of the universe?"
Whatever will they think of next?
They should have spoken to Jaclaz their theories are unfounded!
R&R,
ispy
