Atom collider set to start smashing

Posted Fri Aug 8, 2008 7:22am AEST

Scientists in Switzerland have announced that the world’s biggest atom collider will start operating next month.

The 27 kilometre-long machine is designed to answer fundamental questions about the make-up of the universe.

The particle collider will use 50,000 tonnes of super-cooled electromagnets to accelerate beams of tiny particles at almost the speed of light and smash them together at intense levels of energy.

The first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be made on September 10.

Once stable circulating beams have been established, they will be brought into collision at a later date.

Some scientists have expressed fears that the machine could create a black hole that could eventually swallow up the planet.

-abc.net