Slashdot Mirror


World's Largest Supercooled Magnet Activated

An anonymous reader writes to mention a C|Net article about the activation of the world's largest superconducting electromagnet. Switched on today at Geneva's CERN lab, the experiment is part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project. The magnet, called ATLAS, worked on its first start up. From the article: "In use, the magnet will be used to bend the paths of particles formed from the collision of protons or lead ions accelerated to near light speeds in 27km diameter subterranean contra-rotating circular beams. The ATLAS experiment is one of five in the LHC, and engages 1,800 scientists from 165 universities and laboratories in 35 countries."

12 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Worlds largest bulk magnetic media eraser... by binaryspiral · · Score: 4, Funny

    And every single magnetic based media for ten miles was instantly erased.

    A faint "bwa ha ha ha... vhs tapes and floppy disks suck!" was heard from from the evil scientists' lair.

    1. Re:Worlds largest bulk magnetic media eraser... by Fred_A · · Score: 4, Funny

      No wonder I had to degauss this morning...

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
  2. It's taking a long time by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    The original team working on this tried to load the software from floppies.

  3. Energy Consumption by chriss · · Score: 2, Funny
    From TFA:
    The LHC will consume some 120 megawatts and is predicted to run for between 15 years and 20 years. It will be rested for three months in winter because the French power station that supplies it is needed for the domestic grid.
    So I guess almost all the world's particle physicists will be home for christmas.
  4. Sorry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow! That is beyond cool! It's supercool.

  5. Re:Oblig by legoburner · · Score: 4, Funny

    aaahhh... that would be the reason they switched to chip-and-pin instead of the magnetic strip on European credit cards. Now it all makes sense!

  6. Re:Shutdown by tomstdenis · · Score: 4, Funny

    All you have to do is shunt the power to a secondary plasma relay and then the induction coils will shut down normally.

    Oh wait ... this isn't Star Trek?

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  7. Re:Ah ha! by Nevtje(hr · · Score: 2, Funny

    Walking around in your -what-?

    Dude, I think you've been playing too much World of Warcraft.

    --
    Three rings for the Elven-kings in the sky
  8. Everytime I read about particle accelerators by Centurix · · Score: 5, Funny

    I always think of this toy we bought our cat, it's like a round disc with a tube around the edge with ping pong balls in it and a few holes in the side so kitty can chase the balls around for minutes and minutes.

    I imagine a group of scientists standing at one point next to the tube with a hole, waiting and watching.

    --
    Task Mangler
  9. 1800 scientists by drooling-dog · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...and engages 1,800 scientists from 165 universities and laboratories in 35 countries.

    That's going to be quite an author list when they finally publish...

  10. I live inside the ring... by Paul+Bristow · · Score: 2, Funny

    My house is actually inside the circle made by the ring, albeit at ground level, not 100m down. So far, My computers still work, but I guess the HDD's could be gradually demagnetising a bit on each turn.

    So far, so goo£%^$.... NO CARRIER

    --
    - Paul
  11. Re:This is just a part of Large Hadron Collider by Dread_ed · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The black holes that are getting created here will not destroy the earth."

    Suuuure! That's what you said the last time the Earth was destroyed.

    --
    When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.