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Special event today
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 7:38 pm
by Derek Attree
Hi Guys,
I know its not tanks but it is serious engineering.
As one of the engineers that helped to build the ATLAS experiment
on the LHC, I was very happy when today we had the the first 7 Tev collisions.
In 3 hours running time we collected half a million events.
This is a machine that is breaking world records almost daily.
And No black holes....
regards
Derek
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:06 pm
by Christoffer Ahlfors
Wonderful! That really is cool. Wish I had the opportunity to work with something that exciting!
The closest I get to atom physics is a variant of von Heisenberg's famous theorem of uncertainty; I cant find anything and if I do, I have forgotten what I wanted it for...
Cheers,
/Chris
P.S. And I do think I must have a few black holes here somewhere...
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:22 pm
by Steve Stuart
Congratulations Derek!
We were talking about it today at work, and the thought came to me that as a boy's name, Hadron has a certain ring! So keep an eye on the births column in the papers for the first baby Hadron.
All the best
Steve
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:30 pm
by Steven Ford
Little bit of serious physics...if I may.
The Higgs boson, that everyone is hoping to find, has a vanishingly short life. When you collide particles and find evidence of the Higgs boson does that mean you've made it or shaken it loose from its sub-atomic moorings so that it can be seen?
Or is something even more exotic going on?
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:32 am
by Derek Attree
Hi Steven
Thats a good question and thats why we do what we do.
We wait for the answers.
In the mean time.
Just a few facts on Atlas it is 44 meters long and 22 meters diameter and it weight is 7000 tonnes.
It was built all around the world and sent in kit form to Geneva (Gill you thought packing the KTs was a big job.)
It was lowered underground on a huge crane via an access shaft.and bolted together then wired up with over 20,000 kilometers of cable.
And has about 1200 people employed during the building and now we are taking data.
With staff from 12 UK Universities involved in Atlas.
Sited 100 meters underground and is just one of 4 detectors on the LHC ring.
It has taken 12 years to build and should have a life of at least 10 - 15 years.
Regards
Derek
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:07 pm
by Phil Woollard
Live long and prosper my friend, superb!