It's a while since I did any physics so I could be wrong, but IIRC, it goes something like this:
Interesting particle like the Higgs have a lot of mass(=energy). If you want to see one, the best to do it is to get a lot of energy in a very small volume.
A good way to do this is to get a particle and it's corresponding anti-particle (electron/positron in the LEP, proton and anti-proton in the up-coming LHC) and put them together. They anhiliate each other and the resultant energy burst (equal to the mass of the two particles squared, of course )can create new particles.
All well and good, but if you want more energy, then instead of just putting the particles together, get them to crash into each other really fast.The energy in the collision is then the combination of the mass energy plus the kinetic energy of their movement - which at relativistic speeds is pretty big.
So, instead of just putting the e+'s and e-'s in the same room, the LEP accelerates them up to about 90% of the speed of light, then collides them. Result=plenty of energy for creating whizzy new particles.
And yes, there does seem to be an element of "Hey everyone check out my massive collider" going on. They're on to a looser if they think that particle physics is ever going to replace Formula 1 on a sunday afternoon, though.
When they break down your door in the middle of the night (it has happened, sadly enough, sometimes even in the US), what kind of law do you want to be able to point to: Written? Or unwritten?
The laws are written(see other posts in this article about case/common law precedent), its just the constitution that isn't.
Although actually, now that we have the EU declaration of human rights, we do have a written constitution anyway.
And another thing, where does this 80% tax theory come from ? I pay 25% on the first thirty-five thousand pounds, give or take a bit, and 40% on the rest. Doesn't seem that burdensome to me.
But then scientific apps is what pays the bills for people who need these machines - Not necessarily - we're using a chunky sequent/dynix box to serve out an Oracle DB and a load of EJBs, for an Insurance company's back-office processing - nothing scientific or glamourous, we just needed something with more scalability / redundancy than a 'normal' unix box.
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Doh !
...mass of the two particles times the speed of light squared
when I said
mass of the two particles times squared
I meant
hrmph.
It's a while since I did any physics so I could be wrong, but IIRC, it goes something like this:
.The energy in the collision is then the combination of the mass energy plus the kinetic energy of their movement - which at relativistic speeds is pretty big.
Interesting particle like the Higgs have a lot of mass(=energy). If you want to see one, the best to do it is to get a lot of energy in a very small volume.
A good way to do this is to get a particle and it's corresponding anti-particle (electron/positron in the LEP, proton and anti-proton in the up-coming LHC) and put them together. They anhiliate each other and the resultant energy burst (equal to the mass of the two particles squared, of course )can create new particles.
All well and good, but if you want more energy, then instead of just putting the particles together, get them to crash into each other really fast
So, instead of just putting the e+'s and e-'s in the same room, the LEP accelerates them up to about 90% of the speed of light, then collides them. Result=plenty of energy for creating whizzy new particles.
And yes, there does seem to be an element of "Hey everyone check out my massive collider" going on. They're on to a looser if they think that particle physics is ever going to replace Formula 1 on a sunday afternoon, though.
The laws are written(see other posts in this article about case/common law precedent), its just the constitution that isn't.
Although actually, now that we have the EU declaration of human rights, we do have a written constitution anyway.
And another thing, where does this 80% tax theory come from ? I pay 25% on the first thirty-five thousand pounds, give or take a bit, and 40% on the rest. Doesn't seem that burdensome to me.
But then scientific apps is what pays the bills for people who need these machines - Not necessarily - we're using a chunky sequent/dynix box to serve out an Oracle DB and a load of EJBs, for an Insurance company's back-office processing - nothing scientific or glamourous, we just needed something with more scalability / redundancy than a 'normal' unix box.