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Geezer · 03-31-2010, 06:06 PM

European collider begins its subatomic exploration
By Dennis Overbye

New York Times

Posted: 03/30/2010 07:10:23 AM PDT
Updated: 03/30/2010 08:58:51 PM PDT

After 16 years and $10 billion, there was joy in the meadows and tunnels of the Swiss-French countryside Tuesday: The world's biggest physics machine, the Large Hadron Collider, finally began to smash subatomic particles together.

After two false starts due to electrical failures, protons whipped to more than 99 percent of the speed of light and to record-high energy levels of 3.5 trillion electron volts apiece raced around a 17-mile underground magnetic track outside Geneva. They crashed together inside apartment-building-sized detectors designed to capture every evanescent flash and fragment from microscopic fireballs thought to hold insights into the beginning of the universe.

The soundless blooming of proton explosions was accompanied by the hoots and applause of scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which built the collider. Among their top goals are finding the identity of the dark matter that shapes the visible cosmos and the strange particle known as the Higgs boson, which is thought to imbue other particles with mass.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director general of CERN, said Tuesday from Japan that the new collider "opens a new window of discovery and it brings, with patience, new knowledge of the universe and the microcosm."

03-31-2010, 06:06 PM	#23
Geezer Danielle's Imaginary Boyfriend Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 895	European collider begins its subatomic exploration European collider begins its subatomic exploration By Dennis Overbye New York Times Posted: 03/30/2010 07:10:23 AM PDT Updated: 03/30/2010 08:58:51 PM PDT After 16 years and $10 billion, there was joy in the meadows and tunnels of the Swiss-French countryside Tuesday: The world's biggest physics machine, the Large Hadron Collider, finally began to smash subatomic particles together. After two false starts due to electrical failures, protons whipped to more than 99 percent of the speed of light and to record-high energy levels of 3.5 trillion electron volts apiece raced around a 17-mile underground magnetic track outside Geneva. They crashed together inside apartment-building-sized detectors designed to capture every evanescent flash and fragment from microscopic fireballs thought to hold insights into the beginning of the universe. The soundless blooming of proton explosions was accompanied by the hoots and applause of scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which built the collider. Among their top goals are finding the identity of the dark matter that shapes the visible cosmos and the strange particle known as the Higgs boson, which is thought to imbue other particles with mass. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director general of CERN, said Tuesday from Japan that the new collider "opens a new window of discovery and it brings, with patience, new knowledge of the universe and the microcosm." __________________ Well, Dingle my Berries !!!