Large Hadron Collider first full beam

Tonight the Large Hadron Collider had a beam all the way around for the first time. Some nutjobs are apparently afraid that this might destroy the world. But someone has conveniently put up a web site to let you check: http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/ The LHC is the world's largest particle accelerator. Buried under the Franco-Swiss border, at 27km long, it is the largest machine in the world. The plan is to have beams of protons (a type of hadron) or lead nuclei splat into each other at very high speeds (99.999999% of the speed of light) and with very high energies. This allows physicists to test various aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics, including hopefully observing the predicted Higgs boson for the first time. Stephen Hawking has apparently bet $100 that we won't see a Higgs boson using the LHC.

The LHC has been in testing for a few months now, with them gradually getting the proton beams focused and working all the way around the 27km loop. Tonight was the first time they had the beam all the way around the full 27km. But tonight the beam only went in one direction - there was no opposing beam and thus no collisions yet. The proper start up with colliding beams is planned for October 21st this year.

One of the physicists working on the LHC at Cern has created this rap explaining the LHC:

Did I ever mention I wanted to be a nuclear physicist?