Part of an article today in the news about scientific breakthrough.
The world's largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile (27-kilometer) underground ring Wednesday in what scientists hope is the next great step to understanding the makeup of the universe.
After a series of trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen at 10:26 a.m. (0826 GMT) indicating that the protons had traveled clockwise along the full length of the 4 billion Swiss franc (US$3.8 billion) Large Hadron Collider — described as the biggest physics experiment in history.
The collider is designed to push the proton beam close to the speed of light, whizzing 11,000 times a second around the tunnel.
Eventually two beams will be fired at the same time in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe.
Scientists hope to eventually send two beams of protons through two tubes about the width of fire hoses, speeding through a vacuum that is colder and emptier than outer space. The paths of these beams will cross, and a few protons will collide.The CERN experiments could reveal more about "dark matter," antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time. It could also find evidence of the hypothetical particle — the Higgs boson — which is sometimes called the "God particle" because it is believed to give mass to all other particles, and thus to matter that makes up the universe.
The start of the collider came over the objections of some who feared the collision of protons could eventually imperil the Earth by creating micro-black holes, subatomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars.
The project organized by the 20 European member nations of CERN has attracted researchers from 80 nations. Some 1,200 are from the United States, an observer country that contributed US$531 million. Japan, another observer, also is a major contributor. Some scientists have been waiting for 20 years to use the LHC.
A story to end the day,
RIDING THE HOT AIR WAVE/PARTICLES
Two Physicists were riding in a hot air balloon and were blown off course sailing over a mountain trail, and were completely lost.
They spotted a jogger running on the trail and they shouted "Can you tell us where we are?" After a few minutes, the jogger yelled back "You're up in a balloon."
One physicists said to the other, "Just our luck to run into a mathematician".
"How do you know he was a mathematician?" asked the other.
"Well, in the first place he took a long time to answer, second, his answer was 100% correct and third, ,it was totally useless."
Hope I'm not boring you, ha-ha.
Good-nite.
Zi-Wei, another day...
