After the news that two scientists are trying to block the experiment that could eat up the whole universe, we decided to take a look at the matters ourselves. So we took the opportunity when CERN – the world’s largest particle physics laboratory – here in Geneva threw open its doors recently to the public.
Maitreyee, Sohini and Kanti at CERN.After a long wait of six hours, we managed to go down into CERN’s underground tunnel – 100 metres or about 30 storeys below surface – to take a peek at the machine that would start the “worrisome” experiment this summer. This machine is called the Large Hadron Collider and is the world’s largest particle accelerator. This summer this gigantic scientific instrument – which is built in a circle of 27-km circumference – will be commissioned to make particles collide at the speed of light.
The scientists on site assured us that there’s nothing to worry: what is going to be conducted is already happening in nature, apparently. Particles with higher level energy are constantly hitting our planet, without any damage. The only difference is, the same phenomena are going to be recreated in a controlled environment so that the nature and results of these phenomena can be studied.
We had a wide-eyed exposure to the innovation of human mind and capacity of human endeavour. The six-hour wait was definitely worth the half-an-hour tour of the tunnel. You can take a peek too through the pictures I have added to my gallery on Flickr.