LHC Has First Collisions After Years of Waiting 324
An anonymous reader writes "Only four days after the first attempt to send a particle beam around the LHC, we have arrived at the point when all four experiments got their first real collisions from the machine. This was met by celebrations and champagne, as people have been waiting years and years for this moment. It is a testament to the engineering of the machine that collisions were reached already, so few days after restarting. The LHC had already demonstrated ca 10h stable beams, and now also stable beams in both directions at the same time. In the coming weeks, we need only wait for increased intensity and the first attempts at acceleration."
There's a nice formula to show the world won't end (Score:5, Interesting)
The formula [caltech.edu]: N(>E) = k(E + 1)^-a
N is impacts per second
E is the impact energy in in GeV
k is ~5,000 particles per steradian per square meter per second
a is about 1.6.
So the ground your feet occupy get a dozen or so such collisions per day, and so on.
That was... quick (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't understand all this hoopla about why it took so long. When a new machine is brought into our clean room, it usually takes three months before it runs more or less smoothly. The LHC is a bit bigger than our cleanroom and has many more parts. So much more has to be tested, finetuned, etc. before it can even be brought up after a big repair like it had. I think almost two years is a good time in which to do the repair and all that tweaking.
Banging rocks together... (Score:5, Interesting)
I think what I love most about the LHC and whatnot is that, despite all the incredible and amazing science and technology and innovation and potential for learning behind it, what it really comes down to is just us banging rocks together and watching what happens, just like humans have been doing throughout history. It just happens that this time, the rocks are incredibly tiny and incredibly fast.
Kinda puts it all in perspective, in kind of a cool way, IMO.
And Fermilab is on board with it (Score:5, Interesting)
Good for them (Score:4, Interesting)
The black holes or universe-ending paradoxes are still a few months off, at least. They are colliding at a paltry 450 GeV, a level we have been able to produce at other colliders for many years. Wake me when they are passing 1 TeV, on their way to 8...
LHC@Home! (Score:2, Interesting)
I just want to say, you can also contribute your CPU power for LHC calculations, by joining LHC@Home [lhcathome.cern.ch].
I'm in awe of this machine, no other monkey species on this planet has been able to make what those scientists made....
Re:GNOME (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Interesting)
congratulations (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm just a lowly software developer who works for companies that can't see beyond the next six quarters. I find it completely awe inspiring to see such an immensely complex project come together through the efforts of thousands of dedicated smart people who, in many cases, have devoted literally their entire adult lives, decades, towards this moment. Of course, this is just the beginning...
All of the evidence for this is out in the open, on the 'Net and on the TV, for all to see. Yet scientists still don't garner a fraction of the respect afforded to people that play "catch" for a living. That makes me sad.