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Mar 30th '10, 12:11 PM
<p><img alt="Large Hadron Collider creates most powerful particle collision EVER" src="http://dvice.com/assets_c/2010/03/Large-Hadron-Collider-Atlas-detector-thumb-550x324-36307.jpg" border="0" /></p> <p>It feels like just yesterday that we were taking about the Large Hadron Collider <a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2010/03/kaboom-large-ha.php">smashing the world record</a> for most powerful particle circulation ever at an energy level of 3.5 TeV (tera-electron volts). That was actually only a scant two weeks ago, and the Collider hasn't been sitting still. Just a few hours ago in Geneva the LHC managed to collide those protons beams together at an obviously unprecedented <i>7 TeV</i>, which kicks off the first collisions of what is to be two years of high-powered experiments the likes the world has never seen. Well, if it all goes according to plan and it isn't shut down by a measly speck of bread again, that is. Cross your fingers!</p> <p>"It's a great day to be a particle physicist," Director General Rolf Heuer of CERN said in a <a href="http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2010/PR07.10E.html">release</a>. "A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, but their patience and dedication is starting to pay dividends."</p> <p>So what happens next? The LHC keeps running at this power for 18-24 months, generating data for study from countless collisions — the results of one such batch of collisions you can see above, as captured by the ATLAS detector. There's actually a second goal in all of this, too. Back when the LHC was shut down after that <a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2008/09/large-hadron-co-2.php">ill-fated helium leak</a>, it was actually capable of reaching a collision energy of 14 TeV. With the two-year long test, CERN will be able to continue to work on the particle accelerator and get it back up to full strength.</p> <p>For those interested, Engadget <a href="http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2010/PR07.10E.html">live-blogged</a> the event, and it's interesting to see the stages — and hiccups — the LHC went through as it warmed up to 7 TeV collisions.</p> <p><a href="http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2010/PR07.10E.html">CERN</a></p> <p><a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2010/03/large-hadron-co-11.php">Large Hadron Collider creates most powerful particle collision EVER | DVICE</a></p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6214430959664794120-6582252772348456835?l=ooedbone.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><br />