IT PRO goes to the Hadron Collider

While we were not allowed to see the actual LHC itself, which covers 27km and goes 100 metres underground, we were introduced to various replicas of components. The pictures below show copies of what make up the LHC, including cavities and parts of the superconducting magnets that power the beams of particles towards one another.

The LHC consists of around 1,800 super-conducting magnet systems, each of which are constructed from superconducting materials. At low temperatures they are able to conduct electricity without any resistance at all. If the LHC used ordinary warm magnets, the ring would need to be at least 120km in circumference and would need 40 times more electricity to do what the current system does.

Below is what the inside of one of the magnets looks like. When the LHC broke down during in the incipient stages of its life, this is what flooded with liquid helium due to faults in the design. While the project was delayed as a result, it is now up and running again. In March this year, the LHC achieved the highest energy ever in a particle accelerator when beams collided at 7 tera-electronvolts (TeV). The eventual aim is to reach 14 TeV.