The Large Hadron Collider Has Been Recreated In Lego 80
An anonymous reader writes "The Large Hadron Collider has many fans, and one of its biggest is Sasha Mehlhase, a physicist from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Mehlhase has decided to help promote the LHC to students by taking the time to recreate a 1:50 scale model of it using Lego bricks. In total he spent 81 hours creating it, which was split between 48 hours of designing the model on his laptop, and a further 33 hours putting it together."
Don't tell me... (Score:1, Informative)
and tomorrow he starts building his girlfriend.
Re:Don't tell me... (Score:5, Informative)
I hope his wife doesn't get mad! /I know, shame on me for Ring TFA.
Re: (Score:2)
He found a way to build the universe from scratch (with LEGO), a girlfriend is only the next logical step.
Re:Don't tell me... (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, tomorrow starts the search for the so called god brick. The elusive brick thought to bind all other bricks together.
Re:Don't tell me... (Score:4, Funny)
Nah, tomorrow starts the search for the so called god brick. The elusive brick thought to bind all other bricks together.
Oh sure, it's all fun and games until he accidentally creates a tiny square black hole and then we are all screwed!
Re:Don't tell me... (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, tomorrow starts the search for the so called god brick. The elusive brick thought to bind all other bricks together.
Oh sure, it's all fun and games until he accidentally creates a tiny square black hole and then we are all screwed!
They already occur naturally due to a quirk in quantum mechanics known as "Brickbuilder's Box". Whenever you search for a piece that you need in a bin full of bricks, it will always be where you cannot find it even though you swear you saw it just a second ago. That is because it is in square black hole. When you no longer need the brick, the black hole dissipates and the brick returns.
Discovered the Play-doh Particle (Score:2)
Not the whole LHC (Score:4, Informative)
The ATLAS module is not the only module on the LHC but yes still impressive.
Not the LHC (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
A 1:50 scale model of the LHC would involve a 172 m diameter circle of Legos, hardly something a single person could built in 81 hours.
Re: (Score:3)
OK then build it in 82 hours. But seriously, it would be cool to have such a model in Legoland.
Re: (Score:2)
Ya. I was severely disappointed to see only one detector when I clicked through.
I wanted the whole doughnut (in a Lego(TM) cave for bonus points!)
Re: (Score:2)
Only way to prove the existence.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Only way to prove the existence.. (Score:4, Funny)
This new finding nicely fits the currently held model that repulsive forces are caused by restraining orders and subatomic-particle on subatomic-particle homophobia. Yet another great day for Science!
Correction (Score:3, Informative)
It's not the whole LHC - it's the detector part.
Re: (Score:3)
One detector, out of many.
The original articles explain this, but apparently geek.com isn't quite bright enough to understand all those WORDS.
Re:Correction (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not the whole LHC - it's the detector part.
Was I the only person who read the summary and thought "even at 1:50 scale, that's going to be damn massive" (couldn't remember the exact size, but I knew it was big- having checked, the circumference of the whole thing is 27km, or around 16 miles)?
Then pretty quickly twigged that they probably hadn't built the whole thing, checked the article, and was right.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not even the detector part(s) (there are seven such) - it's *a* detector.
Where's the rest of it? (Score:3)
I see the ATLAS experiment but where's the room-sized Lego tunnel?
Re: (Score:1)
I love LEGOs but I don't get this one -- its much cooler to wonder through a virtual 3D model of the detectors -- that way you can tweak the effects of special relativity to see what a decay product sees at various beta's.
Oh well, end of the year time for LHC stories because the legal trolls and the courts the abuse are all closed 'til after the New Year.
Re:Where's the rest of it? (Score:4, Interesting)
CNCs made of LEGOs are much cooler. Especially this one [youtube.com].
Roomsized? (Score:2)
that would be a 500m by 500m room.
Lego, please buy these plans from them... (Score:2)
Re:Lego, please buy these plans from them... (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering the legos required to build this model cost $2,600, I doubt Lego would be selling too many of these sets. This also gives a good idea of just how overpriced these little chunks of plastic are.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Lego, please buy these plans from them... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
It would make more sense for LEGO to bundle the plans with an "expansion pack" and "encourage" people to pay the extra -- less than he did, but more than they currently do.
Of course, I think LEGO should just go whole hog and recreate the entire collider. Bonus points for a new LEGO-boatswain block ;)
Re: (Score:3)
Have you checked the prices on Legos lately? Damned expensive, even for kids' sets. Give it another generation and $2,600 will be in the ballpark.
Re: (Score:1)
Damn, the lego atom smasher works too! (Score:1)
If it was that easy to build an atom smasher every kid would be doing it! Oh wait they are, every time they throw something!!! Must crush, mush destroy, must obliterate! Must!!! Muh ha ha!
Re: (Score:2)
Do not look into particle stream with remaining eye.
What? Still no Higgs Boson in Box? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually it isn't the WHOLE thing (Score:4, Insightful)
The pictures in TFA show that he (and his friends and poor wife) show that he just built the detectors.
While very impressive, he (obviously) didn't build the complete ring. Even at 1:50 scale it would be a mile in circumference. Now that's a lot of LEGOs!
Re:Actually it isn't the WHOLE thing (Score:4, Informative)
Even at 1:50 scale it would be a mile in circumference.
Actually the LHC has a 27km circumference which, at 1:50 scale, would become a 540m circumference which is only about a third of a mile.
Lego Boson Spotted! (Score:1)
Wrooooooong! (Score:1)
He recreated ATLAS, which is one of the detectors at the LHC, beside ALICE, CMS, LHCb and further smaller experiments.
It's ATLAS, a small part of LHC (Score:2)
This guy built a 1:50 scale model of the ATLAS detector [wikipedia.org]; the first picture even has the inscriptions "ATLAS" in lego letters.
Re: (Score:1)
circumference = pi * diameter
8.6 * 3.14 = 27.0
Re: (Score:1)
Lego: genuine creativity inducer
Minecraft: autism simulator
Where's the Lego Higgs Bozon? (Score:2)
That piece will certainly be a collector's item!
Excellent idea in the article (Score:5, Interesting)
The author suggests that the Lego company should produce models of real-world scientific devices of all levels of complexity, from simple machines, to Tesla coils, etc, all the way up to this. (No, not WORKING Tesla coils!)
I think this is an idea that is well worth pursuing. Granted, it probably won't outsell "Star Wars" toys any time soon, but for one thing, the GEEK FACTOR is off the scale! I think there are plenty of kids (and parents too) who would definitely buy such Lego sets! I'd even be interested, myself... and I'm pushing 50!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Greek-appeal, certainly, but I suspect only geeky parents would buy it for their kids - try bringing your child to a Lego store (e.g. in Köln), and see what bits they head for first...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I referred to "sets" simply because this is the way Lego has been selling for years, now.
When I was a kid, all we had were blocks. Even plain ol' wheels were RARE! We made everything from the basic bricks, building, smashing, rebuilding... exactly as you described.
Now, having helped my nephew build a few Lego "models" (a reasonable description, IMHO) over the years, I also understand the appeal of these custom sets. They have taken the place of the plastic models we had to glue together when we were kids. N
Re: (Score:2)
It's not far out of whack for some of the sets Lego makes now either. While doing holiday shopping this year for our daughter I was highly impressed by the Architecture sets at the Lego store.
Inaccurate Title? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Time-consuming... (Score:1)
That said, he must have way too much time on his hands.
Re: (Score:3)
81 hours is pocket change for a hobby. That's a couple of hours a day for a month.
Is your life seriously so devoid of creativity that a little bit of effort like that makes you feel the need to mock him?
Re: (Score:1)
Meh (Score:2)
Bricks (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
No. LEGO is the brand name. They are LEGO bricks. They are not Legos.
Re: (Score:2)
No. It has not. It does not. It is not.
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4003:ok1hd4.2.4 [uspto.gov]
LEGO is a registered trademark. LEGO-brand bricks are not "legos", they are LEGO bricks. Non-LEGO-brand bricks are not "legos", they are small plastic non-LEGO toy bricks.
Using "legos" to refer to them just makes you sound like an uneducated fool. The fact that you've been told otherwise and will continue to do so makes you a stubborn fool. Go right ahead, I won't stop you - although if you have any mo
Re: (Score:2)
The plural of Lego is Legos.
Well, if you're going to be picky, the singular of "Lego" is "LEGO" :-)
This is valuable research (Score:5, Funny)
ironic ad (Score:2)
Logic gates diagram (Score:3)
Bonus points for the logic gates diagram on the whiteboard.
Pbbt. (Score:1)
81 hours for a scale model? Tony Stark built a working particle accelerator in a weekend.
Am I the only one (Score:1)
Not the whole thing. (Score:1)
Too bad, I would have like to have seen a Lego black hole created.
Biscotti? (Score:2)