In the Testing Center
By Andy Harris
(sung to the tune of Family Night in the LDS Children's Songbook)
"This is the test I've studied for.
Going to class was such a bore.
I wish I'd withdrawn even more
With every passing hour.
***
I'd heard that learning can be fun.
There's an exam for everyone.
Roommate and cousin, *strangers, too
Together on Friday night."
Based on a true story. Class attendance may have been modified.
*Alternate wording: girlfriend/boyfriend
|
Published
7:14 PM
|
CERN's Large Hadron Collider is firing up again later this month after a relaxing Christmas break. This vacation is well-deserved after the LHC collided protons at energies of 2.36 trillion electron volts--the first time proton collisions have occured at over one TeV. This is only a fraction of the energies physicists hope to achieve in the future. When the LHC's winter get-away in the French and Swiss Alps comes to an end, it will shatter it's own world record while running at only half-power (3.5 TeV) until 2011, when it will undergo repairs intended to bring it into full working capacity of 7 TeV per proton in 2012.
How does this all work? Very carefully. The facility was paid for and built by over 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries. Proton beams are shot around a 17-mile-long loop to gain speed until the time comes for them to collide with another beam traveling from the opposite direction. Each beam has the energy of a WWII anti-tank shell in each direction. It's important that nothing goes wrong while they travel around their loop 11,000 times a second. More than 3,000 magnets of various types keep the beams in line. 96 tons of liquid helium keep the magnets and wires nice and cool to avoid resistance. These are kept at a temperature of 1.9 Kelvins (-456.25 degrees Fahrenheit). 0 Kelvins is called "absolute zero" and is theoretically impossible to achieve.
In other words, the Large Hadron Collider is really cool. Let's just hope it won't use up the earth's energy supply to quickly.
|
Published
5:48 PM
|
