Recently, the Large Hadron Collider broke another scientific record: It sped protons up to 3.5 trillion volts. It re-broke the record after getting as high as 1.2 trillion volts. 3.5 trillion volts is about 1000 times more energy that is found in one proton. Soon, the scientists will be taking a few of these protons, almost the speed of light, and smashing them into each other using the Large Hadron Collider. These collisions are expected to show many new and exciting results, such as the finding of new particles. They will be recording these results with what can be called “a camera with 100 million pixels and the ability to record 40 million pictures per second”. These collisions and their results should start coming in within weeks, or even days. You can read more about the LHC here.
These experiments may be able to reveal many new things about the universe we live in. Many are expecting new particles, and there may be discoveries that even change science books. While it isn’t for certain, the LHC will probably change how we view our world, or at least confirm some theories people have.
The LHC is a pretty big deal for scientists and citizens alike. While the big words are way over many peoples’ heads, the overall concept isn’t that hard to grasp. This article made a good point in comparing the Large Hadrom Collider to the Hubble Space Telescope. Whle the Hubble Space Telescope explores the large parts of our universe, the Large Hadrom Collider will lead to new discoveries about the smaller, and even smallest particles on Earth. “The LHC is to the tiny inner spaces of matter what the Hubble Space Telescope is to the vastness of outer space: Both explore an extreme range of space.”
96% percent of the Universe is made up of ‘dark-matter’ but no one exactly knows what dark matter is. Hopefully, the LHC will answer many of the mysteries of Science, and help us foster the knowledge we need to understand the world, the galaxy, and the universe.
Read this article too!
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHc/WhyLHC-en.html