Well we haven’t disappeared down a black hole yet. The Large Hadron Collider is up and running. To those of us with a fascination for things sub-atomic and quantum, it is exciting stuff. Don’t ya just love the old Spooky action at a distance? What a slap in the face for the speed of light.
Well those old protons are getting round rather fast up there in the and Higgs Boson is the name any self respecting parent should call that next child.
This particle accelerator is 27 km in circumference – do the maths and that’s a little under 9 km in diameter. The protons will be getting up to around 99.999999% of light speed. Now remember the number of decimal places really counts in the quantum world! They are accelerated by large supercooled magnets. Now, don’t forget a proton has some substantial mass (compared to an electron) so that is a big call!
Okay then these protons slam into one another. The protons cover the circuit 11,000 times in one second (faster than Usain Bolt). They are looking for Higgs Boson. Steven hawking reckons they won’t find it and has put $100 where his mouth is.
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