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How does the Large Hadron Collider work?
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a magnificent
invention of science that, depending on which school of thought you believe,
will either unveil the deep mysteries of the universe or be the end of all
mankind. The LHC is buried deep underground, 100 meters below the earth’s
surface, and lies under the border of France and Switzerland. Its purpose, in
simple terms, is to gather the earth’s smallest particles and then force them to
all collide. This collision is meant to replicate the events of The Big Bang
Theory, and afterwards, the remaining particles are then examined to help
scientists finally determine, once and for all, how the universe came to be.
While many scientists believe that this is the greatest machine to ever be
invented and will be the tool used for many scientific discoveries yet to come,
others believe that this machine, while unarguably the largest machine ever
made, is sure to create scientific catastrophes such as black holes and polar
demagnetization, which would ultimately extinguish life on earth. No matter
which theory scientists believe, they are all competing against each other to be
the first to find new discoveries about the LHC and about the results that it
can produce. No matter how you look at it, this is definitely one of the biggest
events in scientific history yet to date.
The Big Bang, Matter, and the LHC
Scientists have believed for years in the Big Bang Theory and how the earth was
created from the matter left behind by the Big Bang. That theory is based on the
theory that when protons are forced together in a brutal collision, the protons
break apart into atomic sub particles. These sub particles are not very strong
at all and don’t even exist for a second before they deteriorate or join with
other sub particles. The Big Bang Theory suggests that the earliest universe was
created from these sub particles and that as time evolved, and the universe
cooled and grew, the tiny sub particles joined together to form larger pieces of
matter, that consisted of protons and neurons. It is this earliest matter that
scientists have spent years studying and theorizing about and the LHC will help
them to understand this matter better. First though to understand how it will be
able to help them to do that, you must first understand what the scientists now
believe to be the truth about matter and the universe.
Scientists have already proposed a theory, known as
the Standard Model, which explains how the early universe worked, how it was
actually built, and what it looked like. This model tries to explain the matter
that all of the earth is founded on. The quantum theory, as well as Einstein’s
theory of relatively, are both used in the Standard Model. All of the forces of
the universe, except gravity, are also included in the standard model and these
forces are: strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and the electromagnetic
force. Scientists use the Standard Model to make assumptions about the universe
and to then test those assumptions through experimentation. Many of these
assumptions have been proven as true already. But the Standard Model also
includes other theories that have not been proven as of yet such as the Higgs
boson particle. This particle, while it would answer many questions that still
revolve around matter, is a theoretical particle, meaning that its existence has
not yet been proven.
Some of the questions scientists have about mass
and matter could be answered by the Higgs boson particle. It is still unknown as
to why some matter has mass and other matter, such as neutrinos, have no mass.
Scientists have created many theories as to why this is but the Higgs mechanism
explains it as some particles may have corresponding mediating forces, which
would explain the existence of mass in some particles and none in others.
Because the Higgs boson particle is not officially in existence and therefore,
cannot be used in true theories, many scientists hope that the LHC will help to
prove the existence of the Higgs boson particle and help to explain it further.
Others think that the LHC may uncover answers that haven’t even yet been
considered.
But this is only one question pertaining to matter
that scientists have. Another mystery is the difference between matter and
antimatter and it’s hoped that the LHC will provide more insight into
antimatter. When the universe was first in existence, matter and energy were
attached to each other. When the two were separated, particles of matter and
antimatter destroyed each other. Had there been equal amounts of both, they
simply would have taken equal parts and life would never have existed. However,
because there was a tiny bit more matter than there was antimatter, the universe
is what we know it to be today. One of the hopes for the LHC is that it will
create antimatter and keep it long enough that scientists will be able to study
it and use it to help determine how the universe came into existence. They’re
also hoping that the LHC will help to explain why there was a tiny bit more
matter than there was antimatter.
But yet another type of matter exists that
scientists want to know more about and this is dark matter. It’s believed by
looking at other galaxies and other parts of the universe that there is more
matter in existence than what is visible to us. It’s believed that what we can
see makes up about four percent of the matter in the entire universe and that
this matter, combined with dark matter, make up twenty-five percent of the
matter in the universe. The other three-quarters of what the universe is
comprised of, and what we cannot see, is referred to as dark energy. Dark energy
is another hypothetical theory that has yet to be proven. Scientists are hoping
that the LHC will be able to help answer questions about dark matter and dark
energy and may once again bring about suggestions and theories that have not yet
been considered.
The Large Hadron Collider
Next:
Dimensions and the Large Hadron Collider
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