We Didn't Die!

Anyone following particle physics? No?  Well let me catch you up on how we all almost died.

First of all we didn't almost die.  The newest ($8 Billion) particle accelerator was just switch on for it's first test run yesterday.  The Large Haldron Collider (LHC or CERN by the French acronym) sent it's first beam of protons around the 27 KM (16.7 Mile) magnetic loop that lies beneath the France/Swiss border.  It's job will be to discern some of the most pressing questions in particle physics such as what antimatter is, and try to prove the existence of the Higgs Boson, also called the "God Particle" (a subatomic particle thought to exist but never seen...yet).  It's exciting to be around when new particles are discovered and postulated, as well as to see some of Newton's & Einstein's theorems put to the test in a way that was never possible before.  It puts FermiLab (In Batavia, IL, USA) to shame which used to be the biggest particle accelerator at 6.4 KM (4 Miles).

Since this is the most powerful beam of energy ever produced (7 TeV = 7 Billion = 7,000,000,000 Volts!) some people (uninformed) thought this would be the "End of Days" cataclysmic end by creation of a black hole that would engulf the Earth.  All the energy this planet has wouldn't be enough to create a black hole.  Our sun barely has that much.

Anyway, it's a cool project the Europeans have and hopefully it will provide some exciting research in the years to come.

Here are a couple of cool images:

1.) The magnetic tunnel that propels the proton beams around the 27 KM path:

2.) Results of smashing protons together.  The little circles & lines are paths of specific subatomic elementary particles in whats called a Bubble Chamber:

3.) A list of elementary subatomic particles for your future reference:

Enough Nerd For Today...:)