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LHC Offline Until April 2009 (Or Longer)
rufey writes "The recent problems at the Large Hadron Collider will now keep it idle until spring 2009. The official press release is here. The LHC went offline due to a suspected failure in a superconducting connection, which overheated and caused around 100 of the LHC's super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100 degrees. This resulted in the accidental release of a ton of liquid helium. The process required to repair the failed superconducting connection involves weeks of warming up the affected area from -456 degrees Fahrenheit to room temperature, and then several more weeks to cool it back down after the repair is made. The total amount of time to do this will spill over into CERN's scheduled winter maintenance/shutdown period, which is partly done to save money on electricity during the period of peak demand."
I can wait till next spring for the world to end.
I thought the absolute zero was at -273...ah, damn americans!
I spent all my money over the last 6 months on alcohol and parties, secure in the knowledge that the world would come to an end this October when the LHC came up to full power.
This is unacceptable. I demand they destroy the world now.
I'm a big tall mofo.
I understand things were going well - then there was this 'big bang'....
AT&ROFLMAO
It looks like you're trying to repair a superconductor coolant loop. Would you like to:
(a) vent all helium
(b) order another 30 ton transformer
(c) damn the torpedoes, lets make some black holes.
When they're using the kind of energy that knocks out country powergrids, then yes, it is a consideration.
Okay, I'm a born and raised American, and -453 Fahrenheit means nothing to me. Even us Americans use Celsius for science. If I read a temperature outside of what the weatherman could report, then a Fahrenheit measurement is just another number that I have to convert before it will mean something. (Let's see... being a former Clevelander, the weatherman range would be from about -30 to 110 F.)
Please. If it's science, give us our 'degrees C'.
>> Standing on head makes smile of frown, but rest of face also upside down.
I wonder if anyone has considered the dangers of that much free helium. If there was a horrible accident at LHC if they called anyone their voices would be too high pitched to take seriously.
Q: What did one CERN Scientist say to the other after they collided their first particles?
A: What's the matter?
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
Actually, the world ended when the Red Sox won it all, it's just that nobody noticed.
I am dissappointed. We are on slashdot. Please say instead
"The results will be evalutaed using GNU/Hurd"
or "The operators could finish a round of DNF in the breaks" or "a microsoft linux running on phantom game consoles is used as a thin client operating system" etc...
NO Sports, please!
Spacesuits operate in vacuum, which means there are almost no no particles around, so the word temperature does not make much sense there. Vacuum is an excellent insulator, so it is easy to keep them warm. It is a myth that you instantly freeze when exposed to the vacuum of space.
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