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Proton Beams Sent Around the LHC

Posted by kdawson on from the going-in-circles dept.

feldhaus writes "The BBC reports that the first beams for over one year have been successfully sent around the complete circumference of the Large Hadron Collider. Engineers do not yet have a stable circulating beam but they hope to by 0600 GMT on Saturday."

6 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Remember, this is only ONE hurdle to clear... by jonbryce · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I prefer the hypothesis that some greater being is actively trying to sabotage the collider for our own protection. I know it is completely unscientific, and probably complete rubbish.

  2. Hopefully they're more careful by Nautical+Insanity · · Score: 4, Interesting

    this time around. I have a physics prof who's part of the project. Part of our lecture on superconductivity was dedicated to the catastrophic malfunction. There's nothing that conveys the epic nature of the failure like technical language.

    According to my professor, they were in too much of a rush to get the thing started they didn't fully test the whole thing. One of the superconducting junctions quenched (transitioned from superconductive to non-superconductive states due to the 7-8 Tesla magnetic field), necessitating the dispersal of IIRC 1500 A of current. This turned insulating copper into plasma which breached the chamber wall and caused the explosive vaporization of 2 tons of liquid helium into the accelerating chamber.

    Long story short, it's a very large, complicated, and expensive machine. They'd better sure everything works this time.

    1. Re:Hopefully they're more careful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Uhh, it broke DURING a test. Your professor is wrong when he says that they didn't test it enough, since it was a test that actually caused the malfunction

  3. Awesome! by RepelHistory · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can't wait to see what causes it to malfunction this time!

  4. Re:Remember, this is only ONE hurdle to clear... by zygotic+mitosis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong." - Albert Einstein

  5. Re:Remember, this is only ONE hurdle to clear... by Kjella · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Personally I hope the LHC gets up to full power and running at the latest by the end of 2011, so I can sigh and say "Whatever, wasn't the world supposed to end last year too when the LHC went online? This is getting ridiculous..." If they are delayed into 2012, the conspiracy nuts will align and we'll never hear the end of it (until 2013 anyway).

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings