The “atom smasher” is actually the Large Hadron Collider. It is an enormous science project, much like a pea-shooter, made possible by the European Organization for Nuclear Research. This contraption is in a tunnel 570 feet below the Franco-Swiss border. It is a 17-mile long particle accelerator, in scientific terms. Basically, it shoots things at atoms.
You may have heard about this because of the many attempted launches, but each was set back due to one malfunction after another. Because I have no degree in physics, I can’t thoroughly explain the breakdowns, but they sound pretty dull and expensive to me.
The project was set to launch in March 2010 but was set back because a bird dropped a baguette into the main unit on Friday, Nov. 6, and was pushed back for next summer.
As of right now, the project is running at half power. There have been many problems other than the machinery though. A man was crushed by a 2,640 pound cabinet, and a man was arrested for being a suspected terrorist.
This is so important because it took a lot of money to build this machine and it is going to be doing some pretty risky procedures. It will be firing hundreds of thousands of atoms per second at each other to recreate the fiery conditions of the universe a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang, according to Mason Inman of National Geographic news. Also, this pea-shooter will hopefully answer some intriguing questions like whether the Higgs boson, also known as the “god particle,” exists and what dark matter is and does.
The “god particle” is thought to be what gives all particles their mass, mass being the common factor between all objects. There is a lot of conflict about this particular particle because it is the only standard model particle that has not been observed. If we could prove it exists and show how it operates, we could bring further light to our massive world.
Dark matter, one of the most illustrious types of matter, is said to be undetectable by emitted radiation. Emitted radiation is not the mutating, gene altering radiation we hear about in history books.
It is actually how you can tell a thing exists, because the thing will emit an electric or magnetic field, but dark matter does not. Instead dark matter can supposedly only be detected by its gravitational pull on visible matter, much like a black hole. The theory of dark matter being a significant part of the universe is widely believed, but it remains unproven.
So if this proton accelerator could prove these things exist, the science books would change forever. Our way of thinking about the universe and the world we live in would have to change. One thing I fear concerning the Higgs boson particle is the idea of being able to extract it. That could mean the concept of “beam me up, Scotty” could be real, but it could also be a new means of bigger and more horrible wars. I am afraid of discovering new technology after what our country has been through in the last 100 years. All new technology has brought about wondrous exterminations.
Nonetheless, the Large Hadron Collider did fire up and is running at half capacity. The “god particle” and dark matter are on the list of things to be sought, so let’s hope they figure it out before the project backfires and pulls us all in to a consuming black hole.
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