A story that began 13.7 billion years ago is starting a new chapter this morning. Since the big bang threw space and time into being, no living creature of which we know has been able to discern just what happened in the moments at which existence began.
The human race has now constructed a machine — a time machine, if you like — that will open a window on scenes that have hitherto been limited to our imagination. And today, at 8am, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began its quest.
In a tunnel buried 100 metres below ground, on the shores of Lake Geneva, scientists are attempting to thread a stream of sub-atomic particles around a 27km (17 mile) ring without touching the sides. When the protons snake all the way around the circle, and begin to orbit it more than 11,000 times a second, a new eye will have been cast on the nature of everything.
The human race has now constructed a machine — a time machine, if you like — that will open a window on scenes that have hitherto been limited to our imagination. And today, at 8am, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began its quest.
In a tunnel buried 100 metres below ground, on the shores of Lake Geneva, scientists are attempting to thread a stream of sub-atomic particles around a 27km (17 mile) ring without touching the sides. When the protons snake all the way around the circle, and begin to orbit it more than 11,000 times a second, a new eye will have been cast on the nature of everything.
Money well spent? You can make your own minds up on this one (if we are still all here!)
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