CERN Large Hadron Collider

Today we got to see the CERN Large Hadron Collider. By "see it" we actually didn't see anything that cool. The LHC is actually 100 meters underground and has restricted access. It is underground because the radiation it produces needs proper insulation, and that was the most cost effective alternative to building a large concrete structure around the experiment. So needless to say, no one is often "down" there observing anything. At least not during the experiments. All the data is collected by sensors and computers

The goal of CERN and the LHC is to reproduce hard to naturally observe scenarios regarding particle collision and to observe, and accumulate anti-matter. Its most famous recent discovery was the Higgs boson.

The equipment used to accelerate particles was actually built little by little as the LHC is only the most recent addition. Previous accelerators such as the Protons Synchrotron and the Super Protons Synchrotron (SPS) are smaller and work in series with the LHC. The smaller accelerators speed up hydrogen particles before releasing them to larger accelerators. The LHC is the final step (before collision) and can get the particles up to top speed.

Here's a 5 min video that explains this better than I probably can.
https://youtu.be/oWpy0SAAI6ERead more