The Large Hadron Collider is considered to be the largest and highest energy particle accelerator complex. Also more popularly known as the LHC, the Large Hadron Collider is located somewhere underneath the Franco-Swiss border in between the Alps and the Jura mountains near Geneva, Switzerland.

The gigantic scientific instrument is intended to help aid physicists and scientists to study the smallest known particles known as the hadrons which are the fundamental building blocks of the universe and everything in it.

Background

The LHC was built upon the approval of the the European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN (Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire). The funding for building the gigantic machine came from collaboration among thousands of physicists over 85 countries as well as from hundreds of universities and laboratories.

The particle accelerator started operation with the first beams already going round the collider beginning on the 10th of September, 2008. the cycle is said to take place from about 6 to 8 weeks before the high energy collisions are to be expected.

Design and Purpose

The Large Hadron Collider was build in order to help scientists study and understand better the minute world of atoms and subatomic particles. Physicists believe that the collider will be able to confirm the existence of the Higgs boson. It is part of the hypothetical elementary particle that is believed to exist as theorized in the Standard Model of particle physics.

An experimental observation of its existence would be able to explain how otherwise massless particles would cause matter to have mass. So far it is the only particles forming the Standard Model that is yet to be observed.

The LHC is contained in a circular tunnel that measures 27 kilometers in circumference. The depth for the tunnel ranges from 50 to 175 meters underground. The tunnel is 3.8 meters wide and is line with concrete. It was built from 1983 and 1988 and was once used to house the Large Electron-Positron Collider.

The tunnel contains two parallel beam pipes that intersect at four points. Each point contains a proton beam that travels in opposite directions around the ring. The pipes are fitted with 1,232 dipole magnets to keep the beam on their circular paths. An added 392 quadruple magnets help keep the beams focused and increase the chances of the interaction of the particles between the four intersecting points where the beams will cross.

The weights of the magnets reach a total of over 27 tonnes and would require at least 96 tonnes of liquid helium to keep the magnets at their operating temperature of 1.9K. In effect, this also makes the Large Hadron Collider the largest cryogenic facility in the world.