Last year, there was cause and high concern for a possible nuclear style accident, as the large Hadron Collider was to start in the live experimental stages of activity. But since then, the large Hadron Collider has been under repair for now over a year because of an electrical failure that happened in September 2008.
For a project that costs over $10 billion, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is ready to fire up the collider again, in an attempt to shoot a high-energy proton beam around the collider's 17-mile tunnel. This event should take place within the next 30 days. The collider uses more energy than anything ever used by man on planet earth. So it is unknown as to the effects of such a machine running at a high capacity. What would be considered high capacity if we have never measured power at that scale? Again, this is a question that cannot be answered formally at this time. The question is since we have never had to use such high power before, can it be controlled in a stable environment to be used safely!
This is a project of the unknowns. But as the collider runs at full energy, greater than any machine of its kind, the LHC will help scientists explore important questions about the universe. The ambitious project also has attracted its share of doubters.
People in doubt of the safety of the project have commented that the accelerator could produce a black hole that could swallow up the universe, but LHC physicists dismiss this idea as science fiction.
Future articles concerning the large hadron Collider will appear here on Blogheaven.us.
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