The vaunted Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experienced a significant setback this morning, when temperatures in one sector of the particle collider began to rise, and a ton of liquid helium escaped into one area of the collider’s 17-mile tunnel. The mishap follows a previous glitch that occurred one day after the LHC’s opening and delayed operations for about a week, but this new incident appears to be more serious and could take several weeks to resolve.
The LHC smashes subatomic particles together by send protons whizzing through its circular tunnel to collide at certain points; the beams of protons are kept on track by over 1,600 massive magnets that must be kept at temperature near zero on the Kelvin scale. The incident was what is known as a “quench”, in which the temperature of superconducting magnets that are normally chilled to 1.9C above absolute zero started to rise. It caused the temperature of many of the 200 or so magnets in the affected sector to soar by as much as 100C, which would normally take about two weeks to be cooled again [The Times]. The LHC’s operating organization, known as CERN, hasn’t yet revealed the cause of the incident.
The problem squashes hopes that the first particle collisions could occur next week, as was announced earlier. (So far, the LHC team has sent particles racing around the track in each direction, but they haven’t collided anything yet.) James Gillies, head of communications at Cern, said: “The incident occurred while we were commissioning the final sector, and a lot of helium has leaked into the tunnel. We are investigating now, and we should have a clearer picture over the weekend. How long it takes to resolve depends on what it is. It could be very little time, or it could be many weeks. I don’t want to speculate until we have more information. It certainly means we will not have collisions on Monday, or indeed next week” [Telegraph].
The incident follows a glitch that occurred the day after the LHC opened for business, in which a 30-ton transformer that keeps the magnets chilled broke down and had to be replaced. The LHC’s cryogenics team had just finished bringing the magnets back down to the appropriate operating temperature when the second problem occurred. CERN officials say that such setbacks are inevitable when starting up a project of this complexity.
Image: CERN
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September 19th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Anybody else holding their breath with fingers crossed? I am placing my bet with Hawking for the underDOG.
September 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
You bet I’m holding my breath with fingers crossed!
That the LHC never gets used at its full capacity. That some degree of sanity somehow manages to percolate itself into the human mind and replaces the current suicidal insanity. That the LHC gets shut down and taken apart. As well as the RHIP.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
ray- Hawking is notoriously wrong with his wagers so good luck on “placing your bet” with him.
Steve- The LHC wont be shutdown, sorry. But what do you care? If it creates a massive black hole and sucks in the entirety of existance, it will happen so fast you wont even know. So who cares? Plus, if it works, we figure out the secrets of the Universe. I see no downside.
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
i think this is gods way of saying, “ok you f**ktards, seriously, don’t.” i know i wouldn’t want to be the one to clean up that mess….
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
How many of you hoping this won’t work, or thinking that it will destroy the earth have a degree in particle physics? Heck, how many have a degree beyond High school in any sort of science? If you want to be thought of as rubes, please continue your copy/paste job of all the arguments that were used 8 years ago when the Brookhaven RHIC went online.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
There is a chance that the LHC will cause the end of the world. However with the same odds applied Dr. Who is looking for me right now to help him out with the TARDIS.
February 15th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
I am so glad that for this set back. This serves absolutely no purpose at all. I am fond of the earth and wish to keep it for quite a while.
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