How much energy would it take

[cjackson]

to accelerate a macroscopic object to the speeds reached by protons at the LHC? want to accelerate an object the size of the ISS to the speed of subatomic particles in a collider. I would like to know how much energy would be required.

 

[berkeman]

to accelerate a macroscopic object to the speeds reached by protons at the LHC? want to accelerate an object the size of the ISS to the speed of subatomic particles in a collider. I would like to know how much energy would be required.

Why?

 

[cjackson]

Why?

I'm just curious how difficult it would be to accelerate a macroscopic object to speeds were relativistic effects become significant. The ISS is a big object, so I assume making igo as fast as the 'oh my god' particle would be difficult, to say the least.

 

[willem2]

The maximum energy that the LHC can give to a proton is 7TeV, the rest energy of a proton is 0.938 GeV, so you need about 7400 times the rest energy to accelerate something to LHC speed.

This means about 7.4 * (10^3) * c^2 times the mass, so 6*10^21 J/kg. That's about 10 times the yearly world energy consumption for each kg. The ISS weighs more than 4*10^5 kg.

Elementary particles can be accelerated easily in a particle accelerator, because their electric charge is so large compared to their weight. This won't work with macroscopic objects, because they consist of both positive and negative charges, and any charge imbalance has to be tiny, or the charge will just fly off.

 

[pmacias]

The energy required to accelerate an object to the speeds reached by protons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is immense and difficult to quantify. The LHC is able to accelerate protons to speeds close to the speed of light, which is approximately 300 million meters per second. This requires a tremendous amount of energy, as described by Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2, where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light.

To put this into perspective, the International Space Station (ISS) has a mass of approximately 419,725 kilograms. If we were to accelerate the ISS to the speed of light, it would require an energy of approximately 3.77 x 10^23 joules. This is an unfathomably large amount of energy, equivalent to the energy produced by 8.9 x 10^13 tons of TNT, or over 4 million times the energy released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

In order to accelerate an object the size of the ISS to the speeds reached by protons at the LHC, we would need to overcome a number of challenges. First, we would need to find a way to transfer and store such a massive amount of energy in a controlled and efficient manner. This would likely require advanced technologies and infrastructure that do not currently exist.

Additionally, the immense speeds reached by particles at the LHC are achieved through the use of powerful magnets and a complex system of accelerators and colliders. It is not simply a matter of applying a large amount of energy to an object; precise and controlled acceleration is necessary to achieve these speeds.

In conclusion, the energy required to accelerate an object the size of the ISS to the speeds reached by protons at the LHC is incredibly high and currently beyond our technological capabilities. The LHC is a remarkable feat of engineering and science, and the speeds it achieves are truly remarkable.