Is the Large Hadron Collider large?

[Beanyboy]

Or, is that that the hadrons are large? Or, are they both large? What exactly is the adjective "large" qualifying please? I do know that the tunnel is very large indeed, and that this is the most sophisticated machine ever built.

 

[fresh_42]

I guess it is because "The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator."

Source: https://home.cern/topics/large-hadron-collider

 

[Beanyboy]

So, you're guess is that this is a hadron collider, which is very large. As opposed to a hadron collider for large hadrons?

Thanks for the response.

 

[fresh_42]

I know (large hadron) colliders as heavy-ions-colliders.

 

[mathman]

Most of the experiments involve protons, which are the smallest stable hadrons.

 

[Nugatory]

So, you're guess is that...

That's not a guess, it's a historical fact about where the name came from.

 

[Beanyboy]

That's not a guess, it's a historical fact about where the name came from.

So, to clarify then: the collider is large, not the hadrons?

 

[fresh_42]

So, to clarify then: the collider is large, not the hadrons?

Yes. Large hadrons, i.e. heavy ions are smashed in other facilities: Dubna, Darmstadt or Berkeley.

 

[e.bar.goum]

So, to clarify then: the collider is large, not the hadrons?

The "Large" in Large Hadron Collider refers to the fact that the accelerator itself is very very big.

The LHC also accelerates lead ions, which are indeed large hadrons, but that is not the "large" that the name refers to. (Also, in the parlance of physics, no-one calls ions "large", but "heavy", in general. The class of accelerators that accelerate heavy ions are "heavy ion accelerators").

 

[e.bar.goum]

Yes. Large hadrons, i.e. heavy ions are smashed in other facilities: Dubna, Darmstadt or Berkeley.

Which is a by no-means exhaustive list of heavy ion accelerators, also.

 

[fresh_42]

Which is a by no-means exhaustive list of heavy ion accelerators, also.

No. Just the famous ones that created new elements.

 

[e.bar.goum]

No. Just the famous ones that created new elements.

RIKEN (Japan) would beg to differ! They have the naming rights to Z=113. They're also at the forefront of new isotope discovery, outstripping pretty much everyone in the world at the moment.

 

[Nugatory]

So, to clarify then: the collider is large, not the hadrons?

Yes - in fact, the biggest ever built... 27 kilometers around, which would qualify as "large" even if weren't the biggest... Not many human-built structures are larger.

 

[DennisN]

So, to clarify then: the collider is large, not the hadrons?

@Beanyboy, here are two short videos about the LHC:

Step inside the Large Hadron Collider (360 video) - BBC News
(a "360 video", drag with the left mouse button clicked inside the video to move the view around)


LHC: The Large Hadron Collider (Fermilab)

 

[Beanyboy]

Really enjoyed watching those! Thanks ever so much.