Question: What are you achieving with the particle accelerator?

Scott Lawrie answered on 8 Mar 2016:

Hey Clownfish! So my accelerator is similar to the LHC at CERN, but a lot smaller. It’s for studies of everyday matter, not all the exotic things like quarks or Higgs they do at CERN. We’re looking at how to make everyday objects better.

Things like making stronger airplane wings, faster computer chips, fancier touch-screens on your phone, clever drug delivery systems, advanced energy generation and storage… absolutely anything that uses the properties of materials! For example, why is glass see-through but wood not? Why do leaves need to be green to do photosynthesis? Why are some metals magnetic but most aren’t? Why do some people have brittle bones and more likely to break them? Really useful, down-to-earth questions that we can answer with a particle accelerator.

We have regular open days, so come and visit to find out more!