Pushing The Frontiers Of High-Energy Physics Links Humanity : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
CERN has just finished the first run of the upgraded LHC, reaching
energies that almost doubled those of the previous runs, the ones that
found the Higgs. The machine works by colliding protons against protons
head-on, after accelerating them clockwise and counterclockwise to
speeds approaching the speed of light. The particles fly around a
17-mile circular tunnel, buried about 300 ft. underground. At some
spots, within devices called detectors, the particles are made to
collide with one another. A detector is essentially an amazingly
sensitive camera, capable of recording the trajectories of the particles
that fly off from the collision point.
