Scientists around the world were standing by today as the long awaited big bang experiment took off this morning in a tunnel under Switzerland. The experiment has cost an estimated 5 billion pounds and has been in the pipeline for almost two decades before finally kicking off today. The big bang is taking place in a specially designed Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which spans both the borders of France and Switzerland and the first stage today was reported as going smoothly and to.
The experiment consists of protons being fired in opposite directions causing them to smash into each other to enable scientists to create the same conditions created by the original big bang in the first billionth of a second.This is to allow them to study and understand in more depth than ever before the birth of the universe and what matter actually is made of aswell as the hope they will finally find the “God particle”.
Scientists say the process can take up to a year and have had some criticism from areas claiming the experiment could open up black holes that cannot be contained and could grow and eat the planet from the inside however the scientists inviolved in the project advised this is not something that would happen as thorough research went into the project before it began. They are merely trying to unlock the secrets of the universe as quoted by one of them .
We now have to stand back and see what secrets will be uncovered in the biggest experiment science has ever known. 10/09/08 Reported by C Yildiz West Yorkshire.
Sky News
Protons will be fired through a 17-mile tunnel under Switzerland and be made to smash into each other. The first beam completed its maiden journey through the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) without incident this morning. The flashing of two white dots on a computer screen indicated that the protons had reached the final point of the world's largest particle accelerator. This prompted a cheer and the popping of champagne corks - but there was still a long way to go. Scientists fired up the second beam of protons - one of the building blocks of atoms - several hours later.
Its journey, which runs in the opposite direction to the first beam, also went off without a hitch. The experiment is aiming to capture an image of the conditions that existed a billionth of a second after the Big Bang. Physicist Dr Alan Barr, who is also in Geneva working on the project, told Sky News: "The atmosphere is absolutely electric. Things have gone really smoothly."
