Quick restart of Big Bang machine stuns scientists

[ensho]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091121/ap_on_sc/eu_sci_big_bang_machine


Scientists moved Saturday to prepare the world's largest atom smasher for exploring the depths of matter after successfully restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs.

The nuclear physicists working on the Large Hadron Collider were surprised that they could so quickly get beams of protons whizzing near the speed of light during the restart late Friday, said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

The machine was heavily damaged by a simple electrical fault in September last year.

Some scientists had gone home early Friday and had to be called back as the project jumped ahead, Gillies said.

At a meeting early Saturday "they basically had to tear up the first few pages of their PowerPoint presentation which had outlined the procedures that they were planning to follow," he said. "That was all wrapped up by midnight. They are going through the paces really very fast."

The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments — probably starting in January — regarding the makeup of matter and the universe.

-snip-

Praise from scientists around the world was quick. "First beam through the Atlas!" whooped an Internet message from Adam Yurkewicz, an American scientist working on the massive Atlas detector on the machine.

"I congratulate the scientists and engineers that have worked to get the LHC back up and running," said Dennis Kovar of the U.S. Department of Energy, which participates in the project.

-long snip-

More than 8,000 physicists from other labs around the world also have work planned for the LHC. The organization is run by its 20 European member nations, with support from other countries, including observers Japan, India, Russia and the U.S. that have made big contributions.
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wonderful!

[MineralMan]

1. We're all doomed now! Once they create that mini black hole,

it will devour the entire planet, no doubt. I'm going to party like it's 2009!

[HopeHoops]

2. "Well SHIT, Gomer. We got the dang thing back together and it worked!"

They assumed they fucked up? When I rip apart an engine or a computer and put it back together I EXPECT it to work on the first try!

[Robb]

4. They had part left over, probably.

Most things you take apart still work when you put them back together and there's parts still on the garage floor. No one knows why. :D

[HopeHoops]

9. Reminds me of a Close to Home comic - surgeon...

A weird body part springs out of the patient on the operating table and the surgeon says "Yo, somebody get that. We're going to need it later."

[Tesha]

12. There are a *LOT* fewer parts in your engine and your computers combined!

And not too many of those parts are carrying thousands of
Amperes of electrical current while operating at temperatures
lower than the vacuum of space.

Tesha

[eShirl]

3. BLAM! "He's stunned!"

Love that headline. :rofl:

[eShirl]

5. I wish Feynman were still alive for this.

:-(

[Catshrink]

13. Absolutely!

And Jacob Bronowski (I've been watching the Ascent of Man on youtube this week).

[tridim]

6. Let's get the show on the road.

I want my Higgs!

[Blackhatjack]

7. Yeah they fixed it.... but what do they do with the leftover parts?

In Doc Hollywood the local mechanic repairs Michael J Fox's car by taking it completely apart and reassembling it. It runs fine, and Fox is impressed until the Mechanic hands him several 'leftover parts." He explains that always seems to happen.

Just goes to show that some things are more simple than they first appear.

BTW How do we know there aren't microscopic black holes already?

[derby378]

8. YES! Large Hardon Collider music video!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ_JZ6K-mHQ

:headbang:

[ddeclue]

10. Actually this machine causes the world economy to melt down..

they have to be stopped! STOPPED I tell ya!

:rofl:

[KansDem]

11. Maybe we could apply the same thing to Congress with regard to health care?

Some of its members could use a Hadron Collider up their butts...

[Catshrink]

14. Black hole! Save the kittehs!

[StarfarerBill]

15. It's great to see sizable resources put into pure research...

...rather than new ways to generate profits and/or kill lots of people.

:woohoo:

[WillyT]

16. Way Cool !!! - And I Mean Waaaay Cool !!!

Superconducting magnets are
cooled down using liquid helium

Liquid helium is used to cool the LHC to its operating temperature of 1.9 kelvin (-271C; -456F).

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8369853.stm

:wow: