Atom SmashersBy: Bryan Patricca

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How does it work

Particle accelerators use electromagnetic fields to accelerate charged particles to very high speeds, near the speed of light. When the particle is accelerated, it is then directed towards another particle that is traveling in an opposite path.

New Colliders

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the worlds largest Atom smasher, it has a circumference of 17 miles and is at a depth of 160 to 574ft underground. It enters Switzerland and France at 4 different points.

LHC A tunnel connects two adjacent

parallel beam pipes, which intersect at four points, each of these pipes contain there own proton beam, this beam travels at opposite directions around the ring of the LHC.

Tunnel of the Proton Beam

LHC

The LHC uses dipole magnets which guide the particles through the tunnels. This magnet creates a homogenous magnetic field. The particles in the magnet will travel in a circular path.

Why smash atoms? When the atoms collide, they smash into each with

tremendous force and velocity. The atoms completely break apart. When they break apart, we can study the different components of matter.

The LHC is trying to find the Higgs particle, which is the main component in theoretical physics, and a elementary particle.

Final Thoughts

This magnetic field created by the dipole magnets are charged with electricity. When we learned that a charged object brought closer to an insulator attracts the object, this is the same idea of whets happening in a particle accelerator. The particle is charged negatively or positively and the magnets are charged opposite of the particle, which accelerates it to very high speeds.