LONDON - The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, dubbed the ‘Big Bang Machine’, has been re-started after a 14-month hiatus for repairs.
“Progress on restarting the machine went faster than expected on the evening of November 20 and the first beam started circulating in a clockwise direction around the machine about 10 pm,” James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, told the Telegraph.
The machine, which was designed to smash together beams of protons in a bid recreate conditions after the Big Bang, was launched with great fanfare last year.
But, just nine days after the launch, it suffered a spectacular failure from a bad electrical connection.
Fifty-three of 1,624 large superconducting magnets - some of them 50 feet long - were damaged and had to be replaced.
An electric arc punctured the container holding the liquid helium used to keep the collider at a temperature colder than outer space for maximum efficiency.
Six tons of helium leaked out, overpowering the relief valves and adding to the damage.
CERN had to clean “soot-like dust” from the firehose-size pipes meant to contain an extreme vacuum so that nothing would obstruct the proton beams passing through.
“It was a disaster, no question about it,” said Chip Brock, a physics professor at Michigan State University.
But he said CERN had taken a number of innovative steps to avoid a repeat.
“This problem won’t happen again,” he said.
“It’s great to see beam circulating in the LHC again,” said Rolf Heuer, CERN’s director-general.
“We’ve still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone, we’re well on the way,” he added. (ANI)
Related News
"Big Bang" machine becomes colder than deep spaceOctober 17th, 2009 LONDON - Reports indicate that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), popularly dubbed the "Big Bang machine", has become colder than deep space. According to a report by BBC News, all eight sectors of the LHC have now been cooled to their operating temperature of 1.9 kelvin (-271C; -456F) - colder than deep space.
French police arrest physicist at Europe's Big Bang laboratory for suspected al-Qaida linkOctober 9th, 2009 French arrest physicist suspected of al-Qaida linkGENEVA — A physicist working at the world's largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, adding to the woes of the $10 billion project that ceased operation a year ago — just days after its celebrated start up. The scientist, arrested in France, is suspected of involvement with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a French official said Friday.
CERN says repairs, tests will delay restart of particle collider until OctoberJune 20th, 2009 Big particle collider restart delayed till OctoberGENEVA — The world's largest atom smasher will likely be fired up again in October after scientists have carried out tests and put in place further safety measures to prevent a repeat of the faults that sidelined the $10 billion machine shortly after startup last year, the operator said Saturday. The Large Hadron Collider was meant to restart in late September, but that will probably be pushed back two to three weeks, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research said.
Vatican visits CERN's Big Bang machine, speaks of harmony between faith and scienceJune 5th, 2009 Vatican visits CERN's Big Bang machineGENEVA — A senior Vatican delegation visited the world's biggest nuclear physics laboratory, proclaiming that true faith has no problems with science. The Roman Catholic Church was represented by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican City's governor, as it toured the CERN facility and its 17-mile (27-kilometer) proton accelerator this week.
'Big Bang' machine almost ready to run againMay 4th, 2009 LONDON - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is the biggest atom-smashing machine ever built, is almost ready to run again. The LHC straddles the borders of France and Switzerland and is operated by CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.
Loading ...