Geneva (Switzerland) - It was reported yesterday that a 30-ton transformer used to power cooling stations for portions of the Large Hadron Collider's (LHC) gigantic superconducting magnets failed last Thursday, just one day after the LHC went online.
Scientists were still able to conduct several experiments prior to the failure, resulting in a very positive start for the LHC. The transformer has since been replaced and testing has resumed as of today. The transformer is needed to power cooling stations which cool liquid helium down to its operational temperature of -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, just above absolute zero. Failing cooling will result in magnets losing their superconducting ability – and their ability to guide particle beams through the LHC pipe.
Several hundred extremely large transformers are used to convert some of the incoming 45 Megawatts of power down to voltages that can be used by the LHC equipment. Having one transformer fail on the LHC is roughly equivalent to having all elevator circuit breakers go out after constructing a 100-story skyscraper. While it makes the building completely useless, the cause of error minor.
The LHC is a 17-mile long underground tunnel. It sits about 100 meters beneath the surface and houses a continuous stream of extremely powerful computer controlled superconductor-powered magnets. These magnets speed up protons to within a few dozen miles per hour below the speed of light. When accelerated to such high speeds, the photons are smashed into other photons resulting in a collision with roughly the same energy as two mosquitoes striking each other in mid flight. While it is a very small amount of energy, the fact that it occurs at the scale of a photon makes it an enormous amount of relative energy.
Many scientists around the world maintain fears of Earth-gobbling black holes, magnetic monopoles, vacuum bubbles or other phenomena. Other scientists working with the LHC say such fears are completely unfounded and that the LHC is safe. They also cite that higher energy collisions than those the LHC is capable of producing occur naturally in Earth's upper atmosphere without any of the feared side-effects.
Scientists were still able to conduct several experiments prior to the failure, resulting in a very positive start for the LHC. The transformer has since been replaced and testing has resumed as of today. The transformer is needed to power cooling stations which cool liquid helium down to its operational temperature of -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, just above absolute zero. Failing cooling will result in magnets losing their superconducting ability – and their ability to guide particle beams through the LHC pipe.
Several hundred extremely large transformers are used to convert some of the incoming 45 Megawatts of power down to voltages that can be used by the LHC equipment. Having one transformer fail on the LHC is roughly equivalent to having all elevator circuit breakers go out after constructing a 100-story skyscraper. While it makes the building completely useless, the cause of error minor.
The LHC is a 17-mile long underground tunnel. It sits about 100 meters beneath the surface and houses a continuous stream of extremely powerful computer controlled superconductor-powered magnets. These magnets speed up protons to within a few dozen miles per hour below the speed of light. When accelerated to such high speeds, the photons are smashed into other photons resulting in a collision with roughly the same energy as two mosquitoes striking each other in mid flight. While it is a very small amount of energy, the fact that it occurs at the scale of a photon makes it an enormous amount of relative energy.
Many scientists around the world maintain fears of Earth-gobbling black holes, magnetic monopoles, vacuum bubbles or other phenomena. Other scientists working with the LHC say such fears are completely unfounded and that the LHC is safe. They also cite that higher energy collisions than those the LHC is capable of producing occur naturally in Earth's upper atmosphere without any of the feared side-effects.