The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is the big tunnel that runs 100 meters underground, beneath France and Switzerland is 27km long!
You can see how big that is here.....
CERN is famous for it's experiment's of the last few years where scientists have been re-creating the moment just seconds after the 'Big Bang'. Not sure exactly how I feel about that. My initial thoughts on that was what were they expecting to happen when this moment is re-created? For planets and stars to appear out of nowhere with Adam and Eve walking by. It's defiantly an intriguing idea though, and I am interested to see what the conclusion of their experiments will be when they are finished. They can't seem to re-create the moment before the 'Big Bang' for some reason though. I'm sure someone out there knows why, hahaha!
It's true that there are a lot of science geeks out there who rave about this CERN (they have legitimate reasons to) but I only heard about it for the first time a few months ago. However I have wanted to go for a while now, so on Friday when a fellow Au Pair (Lucy) said that she had a spare a ticket to go on a guided tour I jumped (or more likely leaped) at the chance to go.
This is the inside tube of the tunnels where all the magic happens......
With the guided tour you watch a video about CERN and then take a tour with your guide to one of the three research base's (in this case ATLAS). There's another short video and plenty of time to ask questions and look around the small visitor center there. Your then set free to go inside 'The Globe' museum and back to the reception center where there's another big exhibition. All in all a pretty fun and interesting day out. I was a little disappointed that you couldn't take a ride around the tunnels, you may unfortunately die is you were to do that though.
Lucy and I watching one of the video's in the gorgeous head gear.....
Quite a few things did go over my head as explanations of neutrons and atoms involved in the experiments were being explained. I understood that lots of big explosions happen right? Na, I'm kidding, I understand more than that, just perhaps not the specifics. Basically (and beware I may well have some of this wrong) two atoms get set off in different directions around the circuit of tunnels, getting faster and faster until they collide in the collision chamber. This produces about a billion collisions which creates a LOT of data! Scientist's at the three different bases around the circuit analysis all of the data.
A building depiction of the collision chamber......
Collision chamber compared in size to the small people.....
ATLAS research center (still empty after the Christmas break)........
What one of the collisions looks like.......
The mysterious inside of 'The Globe' revealed.....
Me in my new pod seat.........
I have to say that the best bit of the whole day was the light show!!! Every half an hour in 'The Globe' exhibition does a presentation about the work of the 'Big Bang' experiment. Your in this huge open dark space with lights glancing of all the walls, making you feel like your floating in space. It's amazing! I would go back again just to see the presentation.
Here's some photo's to give you an idea of what it's like.....
All the answers will be discovered in this room apparently....
The other exhibition's marvel's....
Just 7 minutes worth of data collected on CD's from 1 collision.....
CERN isn't just all about this experiment though. This is the place that invented the internet!!! So much has been accomplished by the people working here. Each of the 'member country's' (including Britain) pay a portion of their country's tax's to CERN so that they can continue their research and experiments. Now you know that some of your hard earned cash is being put to some good use after all.
So don't forget to pay your tax's!
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