Large Hadron Collider

Why in news?

• The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has reignited the Large Hadron Collider for the third time in July2022 — 10 years after it enabled scientists to find the ‘God particle’ or Higgs Boson.

About Large Hadron Collider:

• The Large Hadron Collider is a giant, complex machine built to study particles that are the smallest known building blocks of all things.
• In its operational state, it fires two beams of protons almost at the speed of light in opposite directions inside a ring of superconducting electromagnets.
• The magnetic field created by the superconducting electromagnets keeps the protons in a tight beam and guides them along the way as they travel through beam pipes and finally collide.
• LHC’s powerful electromagnets carry almost as much current as a bolt of lightning; they must be kept chilled.
• The LHC uses a distribution system of liquid helium to keep its critical components ultracold at minus 271.3 degrees Celsius, which is colder than interstellar space.

Significance:

• Physicists want to use the collisions to learn more about the Universe at the smallest scales, and to solve mysteries such as the nature of dark matter.
• The LHC's goal is to allow physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics.
• Technology found in particle accelerators is already used for certain types of cancer surgery etc.

Add ons:

• First Run:
  • A decade ago, CERN had announced to the world the discovery of the Higgs boson or the ‘God Particle’ during the LHC’s first run.
• Second Run:
  • It began in 2015 and lasted till 2018. The second season of data taking produced five times more data than Run 1.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding ‘Large Hadron Collider’?

1. It aims to study particles that are the smallest known building blocks of all things

2. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

                     C

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