LHC Damage Delays End of the World For At least Two Months
We shouldn’t expect the end of the world yet because the LHC is being taken offline for repairs.
According to reports, electrical problems stopped some of the magnets from superconducting. Particle accelerators use superconducting magnets to make particles to be smashed go really, really fast (hence the name). And superconductivity can only be achieved in really low temperatures. If you didn’t know it yet, the LHC goes as low as almost–but not quite–absolute zero. That’s 0 Kelvin, -273 celsius. That’s way colder than outer space and the LHC needs that temperature for maximum efficiency.
Why would it take so long? Well, it’s no secret that the accelerator path is ginormous and something that big that is that cool will take a while to warm up (so that a repair crew can go in and do repairs). It has then to be cooled down again for use. Temperature gradients like those for something so big take some time, you know.
Damages to magnets are not uncommon in particle accelerators and repairs only take days. But this is the LHC we’re talking about–the biggest particle accelerator in history that goes to the coolest temperature achievable.
