• Question: What does a Hadron Collider do and how does it work?

    Asked by 428bdta49 to Rob on 18 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by NRM2468.
    • Photo: Rob Appleyard

      Rob Appleyard answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) works by using magnets to accelerate two beams of subatomic particles in opposite directions around a big ring until they are going very close to the speed of light, and then smashing them into each other head-on.

      Physicists then use giant detectors (one, called ATLAS, is 46 metres long, 25 metres in diameter, and weighs about 7,000 tons) to look at what happens with the beams collide with each other and figure out what particles are created from the collisions.

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