|
|
Article: The hunt for the god particle.(physics)
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Physicists are praying that their 4-mile-long machine will detect a tiny bit of matter so elusive that some consider it practically divine.
BURIED BENEATH THE PLAINS OF ILLINOIS IS A MONSTER OF A machine designed to mince matter into its most fundamental parts. It's called a particle accelerator, and it relies on 1,000 giant superconducting magnets, 700 scientists and engineers, and more than $10 million in annual electricity bills to keep on running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This accelerator has a twin, tucked underneath the Alps just outside of Geneva. And researchers at each of these immense devices share one single-minded, unlikely goal: They are ...