Large Hadron Collider: First Blood Part II

[sybrows]

Wing Commander 2

[Fraz]

For those that might be interested, CERN has announced that the first really high-energy collisions will be attempted at the LHC on the 30th March.

To date, the highest-energy collisions performed at the LHC have been 2.36 TeV, which just pushed the competing Tevatron collider into second place in the energy stakes. The Tevatron has a maximum collision energy of 1.96 TeV.

But on the 30th March the LHC will be attempting the first collisions at an energy of 7 TeV, which pushes things into a totally new territory. Media will be present no-doubt to record that the LHC yet again fails to destroy the universe...

[Salazaar]

to record that the LHC yet again fails to destroy the universe...

It must be quite disheartening each time that happens

[Fraz]

It must be quite disheartening each time that happens

Indeed. It really ruins my mad-scientist credibility.

[Dareos]

It does rather a bit mate, good thing it still rolls with thunder every time you let out a mad cackling laugh tho

[Zak33]

For those that might be interested, CERN has announced that the first really high-energy collisions will be attempted at the LHC on the 30th March.

To date, the highest-energy collisions performed at the LHC have been 2.36 TeV, which just pushed the competing Tevatron collider into second place in the energy stakes. The Tevatron has a maximum collision energy of 1.96 TeV.

when do the magnet things get replaced? Cos it's due a shut down soon is'nt it?

[[GSV]Trig]

Excuse my blatent ignorance here, but, what exactly does it do?
Is it an experiment just for experiments sake or will there come a point where the things learnt from it will better human life?

[Zak33]

Excuse my blatent ignorance here, but, what exactly does it do?
Is it an experiment just for experiments sake or will there come a point where the things learnt from it will better human life?

it's gonna help you undersand why your Cav Turbo has taken soooo long to get back on the road.

kk?

[TheAnimus]

Indeed. It really ruins my mad-scientist credibility.

You do keep an old crowbar handy, you know just in case right?

[kalniel]

Excuse my blatent ignorance here, but, what exactly does it do?
Is it an experiment just for experiments sake or will there come a point where the things learnt from it will better human life?

To enable us to to better human life we have to understand core scientific principles as well. Upstream research such as the LHC answers questions about core scientific principles, upon which we can then do Downstream research for example creating efficient solar panels or sensitive camera sensors (not at all linked to the LHC, but examples of things that wouldn't be possible without Upstream research having been completed first).

[Salazaar]

You do keep an old crowbar handy, you know just in case right?

They've been practicing...

http://forums.hexus.net/general-disc...ml#post1833505

[Fraz]

when do the magnet things get replaced? Cos it's due a shut down soon is'nt it?

Nope. The official word is "Once 7 TeV collisions have been established, the plan is to run continuously for a period of 18-24 months, with a very short technical stop at the end of 2010".

As far as I know the magnets need to be re-trained rather than replaced... this will be happening, along with other improvements after this 18-24 month run - so at the end of 2011/start of 2012. Re-training the magnets will allow the LHC to get up to 14 TeV - its full design energy.

Re-training superconducting magnets essentially involves ramping them up and down repeatedly, with each "up" at a slightly higher field strength than the previous cycle. It's a bit of a black-art, and is quite time-consuming. My fairly limited understanding of magnet training is that each training cycle allows the magnet's super-conductor cable winding to bed-down to a more efficient/stable state (a lot of force is exerted on the winding when the current is running), which allows you to go to a slightly higher field strength each iteration.

[Fraz]

Excuse my blatent ignorance here, but, what exactly does it do?
Is it an experiment just for experiments sake or will there come a point where the things learnt from it will better human life?

To enable us to to better human life we have to understand core scientific principles as well. Upstream research such as the LHC answers questions about core scientific principles, upon which we can then do Downstream research for example creating efficient solar panels or sensitive camera sensors (not at all linked to the LHC, but examples of things that wouldn't be possible without Upstream research having been completed first).

Exactly. It's extremely hard to predict where pure science research might go. Particle physics theoretical (i.e. quantum mechanics) and experimental research has an extremely high success rate when it comes to converting research into incredibly important real-world applications.

Let's see... what things can I think of off the top of my head from the last 100 years:

1) The entire semi-conductor electronics industry

2) Medical scanners - MRI and PET scans

3) The World Wide Web

So... do you think it's worth doing now?

[scaryjim]

So many xkcd's to choose from, so little time...

but I think I'll go with this one

[[GSV]Trig]

So... do you think it's worth doing now?

I didnt say it wasnt I just know feck all about it and just wondered where it was going to go..

Just out of interest, how small can you make these things?

[Fraz]

I didnt say it wasnt I just know feck all about it and just wondered where it was going to go..

In which case, I guess the answer is: "Unknown". We'll hopefully be discovering a whole new set of sub-atomic particles... as to where this might lead technology-wise really is unknown. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for cool spaceships

Just out of interest, how small can you make these things?

What things? Particle accelerators?