Quizzes & Puzzles11 mins ago
cern
Does anyone know what really happened when the Large Hadron Collider was fired up?
I've heard from a "reliable source" that several of the massive magnets were moved by up to ? 3 microns, which apparently would require an enormous ammount of energy, more than should have been available. Is it possible that a small black hole was created??
The reliable source was someone who had a guided tour around the establishment, and this has come to me about third hand so could well be distorted!
I've heard from a "reliable source" that several of the massive magnets were moved by up to ? 3 microns, which apparently would require an enormous ammount of energy, more than should have been available. Is it possible that a small black hole was created??
The reliable source was someone who had a guided tour around the establishment, and this has come to me about third hand so could well be distorted!
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I think he's probably referring to the first issue that happened a year or two back.
Cern magnets are superconducting and are kept at a few degrees above absolute zero by liquid Helium.
As part of the commissioning process it has to undergo what is called a "Quench test" where the temperature is allowed to go above the point at which the coils are superconducting.
This causes a sudden dramatic loss of the magnetic field.
It was at this point that it was discoverred that part of the system (Provided by FermiLab in the US) was not correctly braced and tI believe the beam pipe collided with the wall of the main vacuum tube
Big red faces in FermiLab and lots of official appologies.
Yes it did require an enormous amount of energy, all the energy that was built up in those super conducting magnets, but nobody was hurt, that's why the test is run.
No black holes would have been created.
Cern magnets are superconducting and are kept at a few degrees above absolute zero by liquid Helium.
As part of the commissioning process it has to undergo what is called a "Quench test" where the temperature is allowed to go above the point at which the coils are superconducting.
This causes a sudden dramatic loss of the magnetic field.
It was at this point that it was discoverred that part of the system (Provided by FermiLab in the US) was not correctly braced and tI believe the beam pipe collided with the wall of the main vacuum tube
Big red faces in FermiLab and lots of official appologies.
Yes it did require an enormous amount of energy, all the energy that was built up in those super conducting magnets, but nobody was hurt, that's why the test is run.
No black holes would have been created.
Well they had a leak after that which has shut them down until the end of the year and they'll ramp up to full power in the following 8 months or so.
This was always one of the big issues about getting the press so involved.
This is the worlds most complex machine. It's been 20 years in the building. It would be astounding if it did work completely first time out - actually, more than astounding it would be beyond belief.
You get the press involved and they expect fireworks immediately that's the problem with the media and they'll start ripping it apart if they don't get them.
Also get this black hole thing out of your head. It's really, unlikely. And if it did happen it would be nothing like a huge planet gobbling black hole.
In fact for a while it was seriously considered that electrons might be micro black holes.
But check out Cerns web site, there's an "ask an expert" section and some great picures
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/
This was always one of the big issues about getting the press so involved.
This is the worlds most complex machine. It's been 20 years in the building. It would be astounding if it did work completely first time out - actually, more than astounding it would be beyond belief.
You get the press involved and they expect fireworks immediately that's the problem with the media and they'll start ripping it apart if they don't get them.
Also get this black hole thing out of your head. It's really, unlikely. And if it did happen it would be nothing like a huge planet gobbling black hole.
In fact for a while it was seriously considered that electrons might be micro black holes.
But check out Cerns web site, there's an "ask an expert" section and some great picures
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/
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