How Do They Make Particles Hit Each Other?

On the border between France and Switzerland is the biggest science experiment ever built. It’s a tunnel, over 100 meters underground and 27 kilometers long. Inside that tunnel, scientists put a long blue tube… and inside that tube, they put two pipes that they keep colder and emptier than outer space… and down those pipes, they fire particles smaller than atoms…
in opposite directions, pushing them faster and faster until, when they’re almost the speed of light, they finally smash together!

But my question was… how do they get them to actually hit each other?? Here's the answer.

It is amazing that humanity can do this. If you like optimistic science and tech stories, subscribe to see more from our show Huge If True.

#science #tech #stem #animation #cern #physics

[AbielNolanDeGuzman]

I love how we as humans just resort to banging things together really fast to discover more things

[Killer_smiles]

Just don't stand under a window working near chemicals during a rainstorm during this

[janinepettit]

My dad was the project manager who installed the magnets in that ring. There’s a big photo in his office of him standing in the tunnel. We lived in Chicago at the time and my dad went to work in Switzerland for five months. There was no FaceTime or emails in 1972. I still have a pile of letters he wrote. He left in August and came home two days before Christmas.

[IIMPAZZITI]

"And you did this for what?"
"Why not?"
"Why though?"
"Why not?"
"But why though?"

[TheBrinePanda]

Step 2: Dark Matter Explosion
Step 3: Become The Flash

[ankitsaha]

last time someone did that, we got the flash

[Soguwe]

They have one at DESY in Hamburg too. Every time Nacht des Wissens (Night of Knowledge, a night event every few years where hundreds of scientific facilities open up to the public to make science graspable) comes around, they let you into the tunnels and explain what they do
Our parents always made it a point to go to DESY every time, that's not a chance you have often

[highonair]

I spent 7 months on a studentship there recently. There is a saying about the precision on those collisions - it is as if you were throwing two needles at each other across Atlantic and trying to hit achieve a head on collision.

And there are so many small funfacts about those accelerators which are just mindblowing!

[Frenatur]

"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive"

[Revan]

Switzerland bout’ to create The Fastest Man Alive. 🏃💨⚡️

[nishant]

It’s called the Large Hadron Collider if anyone wants to research further.

[klar.iissaa]

Instructions unclear, I'm getting hit by 200 billion grains of salt on the border of France and Switzerland.

[AnjanaManaswithaChada]

That large tunnel can be also called PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

[muktoonsepiphany]

The place is called CERN for those who want to dig a little more

[coutamaxplayer]

And that's a particle accelerator for ya.

[ericwong]

Scientists: to find new energy
Gov: That we can weaponize

[garry_quack]

I like the idea being
"We found really small things, what do we do?"
"Chuck them at each other."

[aidreinhorn]

Fun fact: sticking your head inside a particle accelerator has a 100% survival rate.

[ArtypNk]

That face when you expect 60 of them to hit but 60 million hit out of sheer luck, and there is now a black hole sucking earth inside of it.

[TPBXDRicky]

This thing is what thrusted us into our new timeline