The Large Hadron Collider

Question 1

what kind of particle accelerator is the large hadron collider and why

Answer 1

• a synchrotron

- because the circular path of the particles is fixed

Question 2

what is the LHC designed to do

Answer 2

collide protons into each other

Question 3

what energy and speeds do these collisions happen at

Answer 3

• 14 TeV (14x10^12 eV)

- travelling at 99.9999991% the speed of light

Question 4

why do they need to emulate these kinds of conditions

Answer 4

• theyre similar to the conditions of the universe 1 billionth of a second after the big bang
• scientists hope colliding particles in this environment would produce other particles not seen since the big bang

Question 5

how does the LHC identify the different kinds of particles

Answer 5

• strong magnetic fields track the movements of the particles through the space that the detector occupies
• the records of particle tracks can be interpreted to identify the particles in the detector
• as well as any reactions that they undergo