GENEVA - The world's largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile (27-kilometer) underground ring Wednesday in what scientists hope is the next great step to understanding the makeup of the universe.
After a series of trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen at 10:26 a.m. (0826 GMT) indicating that the protons had traveled clockwise along the full length of the 4 billion Swiss franc (US$3.8 billion) Large Hadron Collider — described as the biggest physics experiment in history.
"There it is," project leader Lyn Evans said when the beam completed its lap.
Champagne corks popped in labs as far away as Chicago, where contributing and competing scientists watched the proceedings by satellite.
Five hours later, scientists successfully fired a beam counterclockwise.
Physicists around the world now have much greater power to smash the components of atoms together in attempts to learn about their structure.
"Well done, everybody," said Robert Aymar, director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, to cheers from the assembled scientists in the collider's control room at the Swiss-French border.
The organization, known by its French acronym CERN, began firing the protons — a type of subatomic particle — around the tunnel in stages less than an hour earlier, with the first beam injection at 9:35 a.m. (0735 GMT).
Eventually two beams will be fired at the same time in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe.
"My first thought was relief," said Evans, who has been working on the project since its inception in 1984. "This is a machine of enormous complexity. Things can go wrong at any time. But this morning has been a great start."
He didn't want to set a date, but said that he expected scientists would be able to conduct collisions for their experiments "within a few months."
The collider is designed to push the proton beam close to the speed of light, whizzing 11,000 times a second around the tunnel.
Scientists hope to eventually send two beams of protons through two tubes about the width of fire hoses, speeding through a vacuum that is colder and emptier than outer space. The paths of these beams will cross, and a few protons will collide. The collider's two largest detectors — essentially huge digital cameras weighing thousands of tons — are capable of taking millions of snapshots a second.
The CERN experiments could reveal more about "dark matter," antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time. It could also find evidence of the hypothetical particle — the Higgs boson — which is sometimes called the "God particle" because it is believed to give mass to all other particles, and thus to matter that makes up the universe.
The supercooled magnets that guide the proton beam heated slightly in the morning's first test, leading to a pause to recool them before trying the opposite direction.
The start of the collider came over the objections of some who feared the collision of protons could eventually imperil the Earth by creating micro-black holes, subatomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars.
"It's nonsense," said James Gillies, chief spokesman for CERN.
CERN was backed by leading scientists like Britain's Stephen Hawking , who declared the experiments to be absolutely safe.
Gillies told the AP that the most dangerous thing that could happen would be if a beam at full power were to go out of control, and that would only damage the accelerator itself and burrow into the rock around the tunnel.
Nothing of the sort occurred Wednesday, though the accelerator is still probably a year away from full power.
The project organized by the 20 European member nations of CERN has attracted researchers from 80 nations. Some 1,200 are from the United States, an observer country that contributed US$531 million. Japan, another observer, also is a major contributor.
Some scientists have been waiting for 20 years to use the LHC.
The complexity of manufacturing it required groundbreaking advances in the use of supercooled, superconducting equipment. The 2001 start and 2005 completion dates were pushed back by two years each, and the cost of the construction was 25 percent higher than originally budgeted in 1996, Luciano Maiani, who was CERN director-general at the time, told The Associated Press.
Maiani and the other three living former directors-general attended the launch Wednesday.
Smaller colliders have been used for decades to study the makeup of the atom. Less than 100 years ago scientists thought protons and neutrons were the smallest components of an atom's nucleus, but in stages since then experiments have shown they were made of still smaller quarks and gluons and that there were other forces and particles.
GENEVA - Sekumpulan saintis tajaan Pertubuhan Eropah BagiPenyelidikan Nuklear (CERN) akan melancarkan satu eksperimen yang dibimbangi boleh memusnahkan dunia, esok.Eksperimen paling kompleks itu bertempat di dalam sebuah terowong sepanjang 27 kilometer dan pada kedalaman 100 meter di bawah permukaanBumi di sempadan Perancis-Switzerland.Ia cuba mengulangi teori Letupan Besar atau Big Bang yang menurut sains, membawa kepada pembentukan alam semesta. Eksperimen mega disifatkan sukar dan berbahaya yang dibiayai CERNitu mendapat lampu hijau selepas persediaan hampir dua dekad denganmenelan belanja AS$10 bilion (RM34.3 bilion). Ia memerlukan kepakaran sekumpulan 5,000 saintis, jurutera danjuruteknik dari kira-kira 36 buah negara yang berusaha memasti-kan eksperimen itu berjaya dilakukan.BEBERAPA saintis melihat skrinkomputer di pusat kawalan Pertubuhan Eropah Bagi Penyelidikan Nuklear(CERN) di Geneva pada Rabu lalu. Sekumpulan saintis yang menyediakan mesin pemecut jirim terbesar dikenali sebagai Large Hadron Collider (LHC) itu turut menerima ancamanbunuh.Menurut sebuah akhbar semalam, ancaman bunuh itu dihantar olehsekumpulan pengkritik yang bimbang eksperimen tersebut mampumemusnahkan dunia. Eksperimen yang menggunakan mesin itu akan memecut partikel proton hampir menyamai kelajuan cahaya bersamaan 186,282.397 batu sesaat.Partikel tadi akan dihentam dengan partikel lain yang menghasilkan satu letupan amat kuat mirip Big Bang.Apabila pertembungan itu berlaku, saintis-saintis berharap ia dapat menghasilkan semula keadaan ketika detik permulaan selepas Big Bang iaitu semasa alam semesta mula terbentuk.TEROWONG yang menempatkan mesin pemecut jirim. Bagi memastikan semua aspek berhubung letupan itu dipantau dan dirakam, 60,000 buah komputer akan digunakan."Ia akan menganalisis eksperimen itu seperti sebuah kamera digitalgergasi berkapasiti 150 juta piksel dan berupaya merakam gambar padakelajuan 600 juta kali sesaat," kata Ketua Eksperimen CERN, Ian Bird."Kami sedang membuka sempadan baru dalam bidang sains. Bagaimanapun,teknologi, kaedah dan keputusan eksperimen itu akan diaplikasi dalambidang industri," kata penyelia rangkaian komputer itu, Ruth Pordes.Menurut teori Big Bang, alam ini pada asalnya bercantum padu, kemudian berlaku satu letupan yang kuat pada 10 hingga 20 bilion tahun dahulu.Hasil daripada letupan yang dinamakan Big Bang itu berlaku proses pengembangan serta mewujudkan angkasa lepas, galaksi, matahari dan seumpamanya.Teori ini pada asalnya diutarakan oleh Albert Einstein dan dimajukan oleh pakar fizik Rusia, Alexander Friedmann.Walaupun projek CERN itu dipercayai bermanfaat kepada tamadunmanusia, sekumpulan saintis telah memfailkan saman di Mahkamah Hak-HakAsasi Manusia Eropah bagi menghalangnya.Mereka bimbang projek CERN menghasilkan letupan di luar kawalan yangdibimbangi lebih kuat daripada bom nuklear dan boleh mendatangkankemusnahan pada skala global.BULATAN ini menunjukkan lokasiterowong bawah tanah yang menempatkan mesin pemecut jirim terbesar didunia di sempadan Perancis-Switzerland. Bagaimanapun, seorang profesor di Universiti Manchester yang turutterlibat dengan projek CERN, Brian Cox berkata, kebimbangan berhubungeksperimen itu adalah tidak berasas."Sesiapa yang berfikir bahawa mesin itu akan memusnahkan dunia adalah mengarut," katanya.Namun, bahaya mesin itu masih dianggap satu realiti kerana tiadasiapa yang tahu secara terperinci sekuat mana tenaga yang dihasilkanapabila jirim proton dalam sesuatu atom dimusnahkan. - Agensi
Ulasan :
Dari pengetahuan fizik saya yg dangkal ini saya percaya mereka sedang mencari suatu yang dipanggil 'the ultimate energy' yg dipanggil Zero Point Energy yg jauh lebih hebat dari Tenaga Nuklear...Tak boleh nak cerita banyak tentang ZPE ini tetapi beberapa eksperimen sejak 40 tahun lepas yang dikira agak berjaya cuma tiada kawalan khas terhadap ZPE ini. ZPE ini dikatakan menjadi tenaga 'penciptaan' sub-partikel atom yang sejak akhir-akhir ini didapati mempunyai sifat di luar pemahaman saintis seperti boleh 'mengganda', teleportation dan 'muncul' dari tiada..
Jadinya kajian Big Bang bukan sia-sia (seperti sesetengah pendapat ulamak. Mereka ingat kajian ini hanya untuk membuktikan permulaan alam seperti di nyatakan di dalam Al-Quran). Mereka ingin eksploit sesuatu yg hebat..Bayangkanlah jika mereka dapat mengawalnya. Mengikut riwayat tentang dajjal yang mungkin seorang individu atau negara ketenteraan pakatan jahat;mereka mempunyai kebolehan (atau teknologi) seolah-olah mereka telah menguasai ZPE..ZPE ini sebenarnya telah lama diketahui oleh ilmuan Islam silam..wallahu'alam
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