1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works and I heart Radio and I 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,919 Speaker 1: love all things tech. And in this classic episode, which 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: dates back to September five, two thousand twelve, Chris Billette 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: and I took a look at the large Hadron Collider, 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: which obviously had not really got going the way it 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: has over the last few years. And since then, I've 10 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: actually had Daniel of Daniel and Jorge Explained the Universe 11 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: over on our show to talk about the you know, 12 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: running data for the LHC and and analyzing information that 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: has gathered by the LHC. So I've talked about this 14 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: in subsequent episodes, but I think it's fun to go 15 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: back and listen to this early one where Chris and 16 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: I really suss out what it's all about and give 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: out the details of this amazing, amazing piece of technology. 18 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: So enjoy. So today we wanted to cover a pretty 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: big piece of technology. Actually, yes, we're going to get 20 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,559 Speaker 1: deep into it, and it's a big piece of technology 21 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,960 Speaker 1: that looks at teeny tiny stuff yeah. Yeah, We've had 22 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: quite a few people say that they wanted us to 23 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: talk about this, and we've kind of put it off because, well, 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: we wanted to talk about it. I know, it's it's strange. 25 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: It's the large Hadron collider, folks, that's what we're gonna 26 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: talk about. And really we were going to do a 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: podcast about this about nine months ago, but then a 28 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: bird dropped a bag out on my head and it 29 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: just threw everything off for ages. What really frightens me 30 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: is that I thought about making that joke and hadn't yet. Yeah, well, 31 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: I was like, one of us is going to it's 32 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: just gonna be a race, all right. So um, and 33 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: if you don't know the story about the bird and 34 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: the bread, we will all become clear. Yes, we will 35 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: allude to it in in a moment. But let's talk 36 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: about the large Hadron collider, what it is, what it does, 37 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: and um and kind of get a grip on the 38 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: whole idea of adam smashers and particle accelerators. Yes, this 39 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: actually is the latest if you will entered in a 40 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: a a race that has gone on, a scientific race 41 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:25,679 Speaker 1: that has gone on for many many years, a game 42 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: of one upsmanship. Um that that started so long ago. 43 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: But basically, in in in scientific terms, we're talking about 44 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: the race to build, uh, the largest particle accelerator. And 45 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: it has gone back and forth between the United States 46 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:50,519 Speaker 1: and Europe for many years and and basically it seems like, um, 47 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: the United States is sort of seeded uh this to 48 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,679 Speaker 1: a group of scientists or an organization called that calls 49 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: itself CERN, which is which stands for the European Organization 50 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: for Nuclear Research. Yes, and if it doesn't make sense, 51 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: why because Europeans there foreign that's why to our to 52 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: our listeners in Europe, I love you guys, teasing being silly, 53 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: but yes. The CERN of course also famous for a 54 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: few other minor contributions to technology, the Worldwide Web, like 55 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: the world Wide Web, Tim berners Lee of CERN being 56 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: the guy who who developed what would later become the 57 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: World Wide Web, so built on top of the Internet 58 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: network of networks. So anyway, yes, certain, definitely a pioneer 59 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: in science and technology. They were the ones who spearheaded 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: this whole development of the large Hadron collider, which was, 61 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: you know, such an enormous project. It involved more than 62 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: just certain it involved the cooperation of various organizations, search institutions, countries, UM. 63 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: And you know, it's a it's really a testament to 64 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: science and to exploration, but it's kind of an exploration 65 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: that involves recreating conditions that were prevalent immediately following the 66 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: creation of the universe, but on the tiniest scale we 67 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,679 Speaker 1: can manage right now. Yes, yes, well, the scientists seem 68 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,919 Speaker 1: to think now. And the reason I say seemed to 69 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: is because I have just a paltry layman's interpretation of 70 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: these things. UM. They believe that there are these these 71 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: particles that existed um in the creation of the universe 72 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: that simply aren't there today. And it's not because they 73 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: couldn't be. It's because the conditions just aren't right now. 74 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: So they want to recreate the conditions that they believe 75 00:04:55,279 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: existed right after that, UM by accelerating very tiny things 76 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: to smash together and basically make bits of particles that 77 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: they think would be those those things that they're trying 78 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 1: to identify. Basically, there's a roadmap. They think there's a 79 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: city there, and they want to see if they can 80 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,359 Speaker 1: make it happen. Right. So, so let's this really boils 81 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: down to the whole Big Bang Theory, So our whole 82 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: universe was in a hot, dense state. Really what there? Yes, 83 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: I did go there. Hey, some of the characters from 84 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: the Big Bang Theory were some of my earliest Twitter followers, 85 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: not the actors, the actual factional characters of the television 86 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: show Big Bang Theory were following me on Twitter for 87 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: a while, which I thought. I was thrilled anyway. Yes, 88 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: according to the Big Bang Theory, which is one of 89 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,840 Speaker 1: the I would say the most prevalent theory of how 90 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:59,239 Speaker 1: our universe was formed. Um, the Big Bang Theory states 91 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: that there was a moment when which did not last 92 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: very long relatively speaking compared to the life of the universe. 93 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: There was a moment when energy and matter were one. 94 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: They were not two different things. Energy and matter kind 95 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: of were coupled together, uh, and then split apart and 96 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: then developed into what we see today, into the matter 97 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 1: and energy that we are able to observe today, as 98 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: well as stuff that we may not ever be able 99 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: to observe. Yeah, and so there were these these fundamental 100 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:49,039 Speaker 1: particles that eventually became matter. And by taking sub atomic 101 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: particles and accelerating them to near the speed of light, 102 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: the speed of light and making them collide together, you 103 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: can smash them apart so that they become these even 104 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: more basic particles and energies that are what make up 105 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: the stuff around us. So it's it's like reducing matter 106 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: that we have today into the proto matter that existed 107 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: immediately following the Big Bang. UM, and they're well, we'll 108 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: get a little bit more into the Big Bang stuff. 109 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,679 Speaker 1: It gets really really complex and complicated. It goes beyond 110 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: the scope of tech stuff, and it gets difficult to 111 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: to explain. I had a friend of mine asked me, well, 112 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: what was there before the Big Bang? As if that 113 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: question is meaningless? And so why is that question meaningless? 114 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: Is it because time did not exist until the universe 115 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: came into being during the Big Bang. If you, according 116 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: to the theory, as you get closer to the Big Bang, 117 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: you eventually get to a point where time didn't exist. 118 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: So before and after are meaningless because are concepts that 119 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: depend upon the existence of time. What's really funny to 120 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: me is, now, now that you've reached this point of 121 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: the discussion, I feel like philosophy and science have become one, 122 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: and really they have been. At that point. There's there 123 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: is a point where science and philosophy are one because 124 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: you cannot or at least philosophy takes over because you 125 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: cannot test or observe. And you know, scientific theory, this 126 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: the whole scientific method is based upon the idea that 127 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: you make observations and then you project future guesses essentially 128 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: based on those observations, you test, and you continue to observe, 129 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: and based upon those results you build knowledge. Right, I mean, 130 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: that's the basic when you boil it down, that's the 131 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: basic scientific method, and you want to do it in 132 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: a controlled way, so that way you can determine if 133 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: in fact what you observe is a result of whatever 134 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: the phenomena is you're observing. You know, like whatever whatever 135 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: state you're looking at now, is in fact a result 136 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: of a previous state, or if it was just a 137 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: something something else. You know, you can't say A causes 138 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: B immediately. You have to build that case. Well, that's 139 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons why this is so such 140 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: a weird topic in a way, because the particle that 141 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: they've been looking for most famously is the Higgs boson, 142 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: and this is a theoretical particle. Yeah, this is the 143 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: thing according to the theories. You know, they they're they're 144 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: the scientists are going by what we know of the universe, 145 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: and they're they're essentially saying this should be able to exist, 146 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: and we want to see if it actually can exist. 147 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: That is just such a weird concept. Yeah, it's essentially 148 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: what you do is you look at the math and 149 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,679 Speaker 1: you say, well, based upon our understanding of the universe 150 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: and based upon some mathematical formulas that are far more 151 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: comp lex and I could ever hope to understand. So 152 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: I want to make that clear. I'm stating this from 153 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: the perspective of someone who is interested in the subject, 154 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: but it is not an expert. But based upon the 155 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: math and based upon our understanding of the universe, we 156 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: think that there is a particle that we're calling the 157 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: Higgs Boson particle that would explain why matter has mass, 158 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:31,199 Speaker 1: Because that's a it's a it's a question I would 159 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: never have thought to ask, like why does why does stuff? 160 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: Why does matter actually have mass? Why do we have 161 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: mass in the universe? That's actually a great question. There 162 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: are a couple of reasons why it's a great question. 163 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: One is that again, energy and mass at one point, 164 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: or energy and matter at one point, we're coupled together 165 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: and they split apart. So what was it that did that? 166 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: Also was messy. There was alimony. Also, there was the 167 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: element of the I shouldn't say element. There was the 168 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: factor of matter and anti manner. Okay. So when you 169 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 1: have a matter, a particle of matter encounter a particle 170 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: of antimatter, Uh, they annihilate one another, right, I mean 171 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: antimatter and matter cannot coexist? They do right, right, hypothetical 172 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: person who knows what I'm talking about in the room. 173 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: So yes, when matter and antimatter uh encounter one another, 174 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: they annihilate each other. So matter and antimatter both were 175 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: products of the Big Banks. So there must have been 176 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: a little more matter than there was antimatter, or else 177 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 1: we wouldn't have matter, but it would have all been 178 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: annihilated there there would be there'd be no us, right 179 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: because animatter and h and matter would have destroyed one another. 180 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,959 Speaker 1: So by that logic, there must have been more matter 181 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: than antimatter. Well, why is that? It's a good question. 182 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: The LHC might be able to give us some answers. 183 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: And the reason why the LHC might give us some 184 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,920 Speaker 1: answers is again because by smashing these sub atomic particles 185 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:11,839 Speaker 1: together at incredible speeds, we can recreate in miniature by 186 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: several orders of magnitude, conditions that were around, or what 187 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: we believe were around shortly after the universe was formed. 188 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: By observing that, we could start to draw conclusions of 189 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: what happened immediately after the universe was formed and why 190 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 1: stuff is the way it is. These are huge questions, 191 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: and I mean it blows my mind to think about 192 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: it for more than like to go beyond the surface level. 193 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: I started getting a bit dizzy. Yeah, you know, well 194 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:45,559 Speaker 1: the uh I was going to get into how the 195 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: monitor and the anti monitor deal with all of this 196 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: and the green lantern core, but that will be a 197 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: discussion best used for another podcast, maybe pop stuff. So 198 00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: they created this thinget down. Yeah, that only took you know, 199 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: sixteen years and ten billion dollars to come up with. Technically, 200 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: it is one below ground feet as as Chris was saying, 201 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: uh it is Uh, it's got a circumference of twenty 202 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: seven kilometers, which is just under seventeen miles sixteen point 203 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: eight miles or so. Uh. The entire thing, like if 204 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 1: you think of it as a giant circle, because that's 205 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 1: what the main part of the Large Hadron Collider is. 206 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: It's an enormous circular ring. Um. It's got eight sectors, 207 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: all right. Each of those sectors has an end cap 208 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 1: that connects it to the next sector. Okay, that end 209 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:44,680 Speaker 1: cap is called an insertion. Now, UH, within this circle protons, 210 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: beams of protons mainly, although other atomic particles can also 211 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: be accelerated through the Large Hadron Collider, but primarily it's 212 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:58,439 Speaker 1: it's beams of protons reached this speed of the speed 213 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: of light. Now you might ask, why is it not 214 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: actually the speed of light? Well, there's two reasons. One 215 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: is that, according to what we know of the universe, 216 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: lights the fastest stuff there is, and you cannot equal 217 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: or exceed the speed of light unless you're light like, 218 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: unless you're a photon. You're not gonna do it. Well. 219 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: Put it this way, the traffic ticket would be enormous. Yeah, 220 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: so don't do it. Well. The other reason is because 221 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: this this UH the facility is so large it actually 222 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: spans the border between UH France and Switzerland, so which 223 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: is why the French it has to stop for customs 224 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: each time it goes through, which delays it a little nice. 225 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: So anytime it has any duty free stuff or you know, 226 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: it's got to declare that it's carrying a certain amount 227 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: of stuff from France to Switzerland, mainly cheese, then it 228 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: has to slow down. That's all a lie that that 229 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: customs part the rest of we've been saying, besides the 230 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: green lantern and other silly asides, totally true. Yes, but 231 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: it's um it's fascinating in a way to think about because, um, 232 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: you know, this very big, very expensive machine is necessary 233 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: to smash tiny, tiny, tiny particles into even tinier particles. 234 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: And and again remember we're looking for lots of different stuff. 235 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: Higgs boson is probably the most famous you know, and 236 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 1: and someone that's made the news recently as at the 237 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: time we're recording this, right, you are right. The recent 238 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: news states that we have discovered a particle that fits 239 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: very closely to what we would expect the Higgs boson 240 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: to be. So it's not that we found the Higgs 241 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: boson necessarily, but that we found something that's promising along 242 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: those lines. Yes, So again we cannot say we found 243 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: the Higgs boson with certainty. Actually will probably never be 244 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: able to say it with a hundred percent certainty. But 245 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: we you know, what we can say is that the 246 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: findings we've discovered our prom sing along those lines. It 247 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: appears to be, but there's no way to know for certain, right, 248 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: and we're gonna continue obviously, they're going to continue to 249 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: do experiments, make sure it's repeatable, make sure that the 250 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: things that they have observed are in fact actual observations 251 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: and not some form of error. Uh. This is all 252 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: part of science, you know. Science is all about You've 253 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: got to replicate whatever it is you did to make 254 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: sure that it is in fact a real effect. What 255 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: did you do? I don't know. But beyond the Higgs 256 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: bo song, we're looking at other stuff too, Like, for instance, 257 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: our universe is expanding, yes, all right, and uh, and 258 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: it expands at a particular rate, and that rate is 259 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: very difficult to explain based upon the observable amount of 260 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: matter in the universe. So the way the galaxies we're 261 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: talking massive massive systems, not you know, not solar systems, 262 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: we're talking entire galaxies, the way that they behave seems 263 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: to contradict our knowledge of what the universe, how the 264 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: universe should behave based upon the amount of matter we 265 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: believe exists within the universe, so we have to figure 266 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: out why is that? Why is that the case? And 267 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: one of the theories proposed, and a very popular one 268 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: since really the ninety nineties, is that there is the 269 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: stuff that we cannot observe, that is, it's it's undetectable 270 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: by humans. Right now, we don't have the ability to 271 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: figure out where and what it is. But that scientists, 272 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,119 Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, call it dark matter. 273 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,119 Speaker 1: So it's the stuff that we cannot detect, but that 274 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: at least in theory, must exist in order for the 275 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: universe to behave the way it behaves despite the way 276 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: we understand the universe. And by saying, okay, well, what 277 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: if there's this stuff that we cannot see but it 278 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: does exist and it otherwise behaves like matter, What if 279 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: it's out there, how much of it would it? We 280 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: need to balance out the way galaxies do behave and 281 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: the way we think they should behave and uh. And 282 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: once we kind of created that theory, there's also a 283 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,080 Speaker 1: theory that kind of partners with this about dark energy, 284 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: which is, you know, again an energy component that we 285 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:23,199 Speaker 1: cannot directly detect. We detect its uh, its effects, but 286 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:28,239 Speaker 1: not the actual energy itself. This would account for the 287 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,880 Speaker 1: way the universe is expanding and the way galaxies move 288 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: in relation to one another. Um And you know, again, 289 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: this is not a perfect explanation because it really just 290 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: says we don't really know. These are sort of place 291 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:46,480 Speaker 1: holders until we can figure out more. Well. Again, because 292 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: the Large Hadron Collider will recreate conditions similar to those 293 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: shortly after the Big Bang, there's hope that perhaps we 294 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 1: will find some sort of evidence that supports or perhaps 295 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: contradicts this theory of dark matter and dark energy. Beyond that, 296 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:09,200 Speaker 1: there's also the wonderful world of string theory, which I'll 297 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: admit to you guys. I mean, like I said, I 298 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:13,399 Speaker 1: am not an expert. So what I've been talking about 299 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: so far is stuff that I have a weak grasp 300 00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: on right like I can, I can almost get my 301 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: head around it. But it's still pretty perplexing to me. 302 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: String theory just kicks my brain out my ear and 303 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: says you do not belong here. Never show your face 304 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: here again. Because string theory is again a completely theoretical 305 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:45,959 Speaker 1: model that is based primarily upon mathematics that would reconcile 306 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:52,120 Speaker 1: what we call the standard theory with uh, something that 307 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:58,120 Speaker 1: the centard theory could not explain before. Um. So standard 308 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: theory is kind of our our explanation about how the 309 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: universe works, right, um, and it has uh. It encompasses 310 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: three of the four fundamental forces we understand about the universe. 311 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: Those those three forces are the weak nuclear force, the 312 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,959 Speaker 1: strong nuclear force, and electromagnetic force. But the fourth fundamental force, 313 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,679 Speaker 1: the one that it does not explain, is gravity. String 314 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,440 Speaker 1: theory is one attempt to reconcile everything we know about 315 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: the universe and sort of it's kind of like the 316 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: whole unified theory approach you might have you've heard the 317 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: unified theory, right, this idea that there is there's got 318 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,400 Speaker 1: to be an explanation that brings together all of these 319 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 1: elements so that we have a working model of why 320 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: the universe behaves the way it does. Well. The string 321 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: theory is kind of an approach to that. It is 322 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 1: again theoretical, it's all based on mathematics. Uh. A lot 323 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: of the different string theories suggests that there are are 324 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,959 Speaker 1: at least eleven dimensions to the universe. Uh. We of 325 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: course cannot directly observe all of these dimensions. We know, 326 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: you know, there's certain spatial dimensions that we are aware of, length, height, depth, 327 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. There's also the dimension of time, 328 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:25,160 Speaker 1: which we perceive as a linear progression, though again time 329 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,440 Speaker 1: is relative. If you move, you know, depending upon the 330 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: speed that you are moving throughout the universe, time is 331 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: going to pass at a different rate, but between you 332 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: and as stationary observer, which is crazy as well. Also, 333 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: by the way, alternative theory of why the universe is 334 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: expanding the way it is at the speed at what 335 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: it is is that it's not accelerating or anything like that. 336 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: It's that time itself is slowing down. But we are 337 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: incapable of perceiving that ourselves. It's just time is slowing 338 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: down in the context of the universe. It's a hole. Again, 339 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: I can't even grasp that. So string theory boils down 340 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: to this idea that everything in the universe, when you 341 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:13,400 Speaker 1: get really, really, really really down to it, is made 342 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: up of these strings. And the strings can either be open, 343 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: meaning that the ends are free, or they can be closed. 344 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: So it's like a it's like a rubber band, a loop, 345 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: and they vibrate at different frequencies, and how they vibrate 346 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: determines what they are. So a string vibrating a certain 347 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:36,360 Speaker 1: way would be an electron, or would really a collection 348 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,439 Speaker 1: of strings vibrating that way would be an electron versus 349 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: a proton or a neutron or whatever. Uh. The problem 350 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,399 Speaker 1: with string theory, among many other problems, one of the 351 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: big problems with string theory is that you can't make 352 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: an observation to prove or disproved string theory because it's 353 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: it's dealing with something that is so tiny and fundamental 354 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: that there's no way we can detect it, So you 355 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,640 Speaker 1: can't observe it and you can't test it, which has 356 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: led some scientists to say string theory is more of 357 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,480 Speaker 1: a philosophy that it is a science, because if you 358 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: cannot observe or test it, how can you call it science. 359 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,440 Speaker 1: It's a mathematical theory that's more in the line of philosophy, 360 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: which I agree that's a fairly valid argument at this stage. Well, 361 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: there's some hope that the LHC could perhaps uncover some 362 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: evidence that strength that would support string theory, mainly supersymmetry, 363 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 1: and supersymmetry is a step beyond the idea of matter 364 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,439 Speaker 1: and anti matter. So we do know that there is 365 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: matter and anti matter. So for example, the anti matter 366 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: component or or uh partner to an electron is a positron, 367 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:56,199 Speaker 1: which is a positively charged sub atomic particle. So positron 368 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: and electron are our counters to one another. They would 369 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: annihilate each other with extreme prejudice. And then supersymmetry are 370 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: suggests that there are other counterparticles besides matter and anti matter. 371 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: They would say that each particle would have a superpartner 372 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: partner and an anti superpartner, which we would call a supervillain, 373 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: and that that those that perhaps the experiments in the 374 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:31,399 Speaker 1: LHC might uncover evidence of supersymmetry, which in turn would 375 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 1: be support for string theory. So there are lots of 376 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: different things that the LHC is looking for, and how 377 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: it does it is pretty phenomenal. And as we said, 378 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,400 Speaker 1: you know, it involves accelerating these these particles at near 379 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,159 Speaker 1: the speed of light and using an enormous machine to 380 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: do it, and how that happens is insane. H Well, 381 00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,879 Speaker 1: the collider itself is really one of of three main 382 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: your parts to to what the the entire scientific machine 383 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: if you will, that they are using over there um. 384 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: The colliders is one the detectors. Therefore huge areas where 385 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: the detectors sit and those you know, are there to 386 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: identify the results of the collisions. You know there there 387 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: there are four major ones and two minor ones that 388 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: are kind of piggybacked onto the major ones. And then 389 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,160 Speaker 1: there's the grid, which is the computers, the grid computer 390 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 1: grid computers, so a series of network computers that handle 391 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: all that data and crunch the numbers. So when you 392 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 1: when we get down, let's get down to the physical 393 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,200 Speaker 1: way that this system works. And you can't just flip 394 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: a switch and have beams of sub atomic particles traveling 395 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,679 Speaker 1: at near the speed of light. It actually takes quite 396 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,640 Speaker 1: some time to ramp up that speed so that these 397 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: particles are moving at the right velocity to make them 398 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: collide with one another. UM. Now you remember we've got 399 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 1: the LHC. It's a big ring. So these different beams 400 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: are both traveling in opposite directions, and then we'll ultimately 401 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: converge on one of these detector sites around the ring, 402 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: and at that detector site you will have your collisions. UH. 403 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: So one beam is traveling counterclockwise and the other one 404 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 1: is traveling anti counter clockwise as uh directions I once 405 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: received for a fan said I, I am surprised you 406 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: didn't say whitterians. Yes, yes, okay, So that would be 407 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,400 Speaker 1: clockwise and whitter sians. One is traveling clockwise, the other 408 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: one's traveling whitter sians. If you wonder what whitter sians 409 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: is read McMath uh the so the it's counterclockwise. So 410 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: these two beams are traveling in different directions. But before 411 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: they can even do that, they have to be accelerated 412 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: in separate accelerators. Separate in the sense that you know, 413 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,000 Speaker 1: it goes through them first and then gets injected into 414 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: to the l h C. They are connected to the LHC, 415 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: but they are each their own thing. So it starts 416 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 1: off in the linnak T l I n a C 417 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 1: the number two, which is UH. It fires beams of 418 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 1: protons generally protons, although it can be other things as well, 419 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: into an accelerator that's called the PS booster. Now the 420 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:27,160 Speaker 1: PS booster uses UH these chambers called radio frequency cavities 421 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: to actually push the protons with radio frequencies through a pathway, 422 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: and that pathway is secured by magnets because you know, 423 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: protons are positively charged. So by using magnets in the 424 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: appropriate kind of magnetic field, you can keep those those 425 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: positively charged particles traveling in a very specific pathway. Um. 426 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: Then once the protons reached the right velocity of where 427 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: right energy level, like the PS two booster injects them 428 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: into the super proton syncotron, which, to my disappointment, is 429 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: not a decepticon. Uh. That's when the sincotron will actually 430 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: divide these proton beams into bunches. That's a technical term, 431 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: and that really is the term that cern uses. The 432 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: protons get divided into bunches. Those bunches are about around 433 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 1: a hundred billion protons per bunch, and there are about 434 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: two thousand, eight hundred and eight bunches per beam. Yep. Now, 435 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: these beams start traveling around the LHC. It takes about 436 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: twenty minutes for them to uh to hit that speed 437 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: of nine the speed of light. And at top speed, 438 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: a proton will make eleven thousand, two hundred forty five 439 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: trips around the entire large Hadron collider each second. And 440 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: and and what was that distance again, it's uh twenty 441 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 1: seven kilometers, so twenty seven kilometers. Uh, it takes it. 442 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: There's a twenty seven kilometer trip and eleven eleven five 443 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: kilometer trips every second. That's a lot of frequent flyer 444 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: miles or kilometers as the case may be. Hey, it's 445 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan from two thousand nineteen. I just pop back here 446 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: to two thousand twelve so I can drop a piece 447 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 1: of bread down a ventilation shaft in order to sabotage 448 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: the LHC. While I'm doing that, let's take a quick 449 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: break the fun part of this. Of course, they have 450 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: to be kept separate initially, because you want them to 451 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,160 Speaker 1: collide when they're at act speed, yeah, and at the 452 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: detector sites, so they have to They have to collide 453 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: at the right speed and at the right location. It 454 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: also means that you have to make this this environment 455 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: as close to a perfect vacuum as you possibly can, 456 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,440 Speaker 1: because even a single moat of dust floating in this 457 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: device somewhere would cause billions of protons to collide prematurely, 458 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: So you have to try and make it as close 459 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,960 Speaker 1: to a perfect vacuum as possible. It also means that 460 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: in order to get the magnets to be as efficient 461 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: and fast as possible, you have two super cool them. 462 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 1: Now super cooling an electro magnet. The reason why you 463 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: want to do that is to reduce resistance. Now, resistance 464 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: is well, it kind of is what it sounds. It's 465 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: it's a conductor's tendency to resist the flow of electrons. 466 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: Typically we experience this in the form of heat. So 467 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: as an electronic device heats up, as the electronic components 468 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: are heating up, it's because they are resisting the flow 469 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: of electrons through that that whatever component is. So in 470 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: order to reduce this quality that all conductors as I mean, 471 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: as you know, you can reduce it in different ways, 472 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 1: but one of the ways is too super cool an electromagnet. 473 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 1: You can reduce the resistance to almost nothing. Um, they 474 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:20,719 Speaker 1: use not liquid nitrogen. Uh, not liquid hydrogen, but liquid helium, 475 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,720 Speaker 1: which is incredibly cold, about one point eight degree kelvin. 476 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: Technically we shouldn't say degree, but yes, one point eight kelvin. Sorry, no, 477 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: that that's something else I need to have correct in 478 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: my article. I do have an article about the large 479 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: hadron collider at How Stuff Works, and it's an article 480 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: I'm particularly proud of. But as I was reading, I said, huh, 481 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 1: I said degree kelvin. I should have just said kelvin. 482 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: So so that's my fault. Send all hate mail to me. 483 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 1: The the the UM information I got from the scientists 484 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: over you know, and doing the research from the certain 485 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 1: website they said degree kelvin shows degree. Well, it's not 486 00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: this certain website, it's um UM, a different a different group, 487 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: one of the groups from the UK that that works 488 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: as part of the scientists that are doing that. I 489 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 1: suddenly feel better than I had. Someone once chastise me 490 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: for saying to Greek kelvin, that's why, that's why I 491 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: jumped up. That is a good point, but I think 492 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: I think it's a useful construct in our hands. So 493 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: if you're wondering what zero kelvin is, so one point 494 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 1: eight one point nine kelvin, depending on who you ask. 495 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 1: Zero kelvin is zero molecular movement. Yeah, that would be 496 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: in the deepest, zero deep absolute zero, deepest reaches of 497 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: space where there is no molecular movement at all. That 498 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,800 Speaker 1: is zero kelen. It's the coldest you can possibly be 499 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:49,200 Speaker 1: because heat really boils down to molecular movement, and if 500 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: you don't have any molecular movement, you can't get any 501 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:56,479 Speaker 1: colder than that. Um, you can't have negative molecular movement. 502 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: So one point nine one kelvin, which what I had 503 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: originally seen, but one point eight kelvin if you want 504 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: to know what that translates to in in the terms 505 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: that we tend to use on a day to day basis, 506 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: that is colder than negative two hundred seventy one degrees 507 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: celsius or for those fahrenheit fans among us, negative four 508 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: hundred fifty six fahrenheits. So bundle up. Yeah. Yeah. By 509 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: the way, the organization I was quoting from was the Science, 510 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: Science and Technology Facilities Council, got you, well, you know 511 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: what they know what they're talking about. I'm going to 512 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: say degreek Helvin then, And anyway, the the at this temperature, 513 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: you have reduced resistance to almost a non factor, which 514 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,080 Speaker 1: is important to get these electromagnets to operate at the 515 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,480 Speaker 1: proper speed and efficiency, to keep these beams on track, 516 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: and to direct them properly so they're going faster and 517 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: faster till they hit their top speed. At that point 518 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: you want to direct them at whichever detector site is 519 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 1: going to be measuring collisions at that moment, and uh, 520 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,360 Speaker 1: when the collisions happened. They happen at about six hundred 521 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:10,360 Speaker 1: million collisions per second. Now, remember we're talking about a 522 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 1: hundred billion protons per bunch, so six million per second. 523 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: That should lead you to the conclusion that not all 524 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:24,120 Speaker 1: these protons are colliding with other protons. And it's true 525 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: because at that level, at that sub atomic size, it's 526 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 1: really hard to be so precise that you're going to 527 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 1: make sure that every proton is going to collide with 528 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 1: a proton coming from the other direction. It's just not 529 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:40,839 Speaker 1: really possible. We don't have that level precision. So some 530 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: of these protons actually a lot of protons will not 531 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: collide with anything, and they end up going through the 532 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:53,279 Speaker 1: Large Hadron Collider further until they hit UH essentially a 533 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,239 Speaker 1: wall that's designed to absorb protons, and it's it's their 534 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,760 Speaker 1: proton dump UH. And again it's not all it's just protons. 535 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: There there's one particular UH set of of of measuring 536 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: devices connected to the LHC that's all about iron ions, 537 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: so it's not just protons. But that's again the the 538 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,720 Speaker 1: the typical use for the LHC. So six hundred million 539 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,640 Speaker 1: collisions per second. And then at these detector sites, they 540 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:31,280 Speaker 1: have these very very advanced pieces of equipment that observe 541 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 1: what happens next, and they're observing trajectories and accelerations and well, 542 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:43,000 Speaker 1: really velocities I should say velocities trajectories of various um 543 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: sub atomic particles that result from this collision, and things 544 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: like quarks, which are sounds made by dirks. Dirk makes 545 00:35:54,960 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: a quirk. Uh, now quirks, which are they They're very unstable. 546 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,360 Speaker 1: They last less than a fraction of a second. Well, 547 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:05,880 Speaker 1: I guess technically they would last a fraction of a second. 548 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 1: They last less than a second long. Yeah. Uh. And 549 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: there's this stuff called gluon, which is a mitigating force. 550 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,120 Speaker 1: I thought that's what you used to stick together your muans. 551 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:21,920 Speaker 1: Uh No, I use glue on applied directly to forehead. Um, 552 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,840 Speaker 1: you were doing so well without the jokes. Muan muans, 553 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,399 Speaker 1: by the way, also interesting, very tiny little particles they are. 554 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: They're negatively charged particles, so in that way, they're kind 555 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:37,160 Speaker 1: of like electrons, but they are two hundred times heavier 556 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: than an electron is and also very unstable. One of 557 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:45,680 Speaker 1: the other things that could potentially result from these collisions 558 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:51,719 Speaker 1: is the tiniest version of a black hole I can imagine, uh, 559 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,239 Speaker 1: which caused some people to freak out right. They thought, oh, 560 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,200 Speaker 1: the AlgC is going to create a black hole and 561 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:00,320 Speaker 1: we're all going to die, which was a silly, silly 562 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 1: thing to think, because a black hole, as we think 563 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:07,320 Speaker 1: of it, is a collapsed star. It's an incredibly dense 564 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,840 Speaker 1: uh point where or really point is the wrong term too, 565 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,239 Speaker 1: But it's incredibly dense and has an incredibly strong gravitational 566 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: poll that light itself cannot escape. But you think about that, 567 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 1: that's the result of a star collapsing in on itself, 568 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: gravity pulling the contents of the star into a dense 569 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:37,759 Speaker 1: a more and more dense uh point. Really, we're talking 570 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:42,919 Speaker 1: about protons slapping into each other at that scale. It's 571 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:47,520 Speaker 1: entirely different. And a black hole generated by a proton 572 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 1: collision would last less than a fraction of a second. 573 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 1: So you're talking about something that is not at all 574 00:37:56,120 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 1: a danger to human life on Earth. Um. I've seen 575 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: the documentary The black Hole. Yeah, it looks pretty scary. 576 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:11,239 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, the it's just not something you need to 577 00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 1: worry about. There's also the the there's been a little 578 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: bit of news about the fact that one of the 579 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:21,360 Speaker 1: many scientific Studies that's connected to the Large Hadron Collider 580 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: is looking at um cosmic rays, and really it's looking 581 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:30,080 Speaker 1: to see how we could create better devices to study 582 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: cosmic rays out in the universe, which it's really hard 583 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,319 Speaker 1: to do from Earth because the Earth's magnetic field and 584 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:40,439 Speaker 1: atmosphere protect us from cosmic rays, So you can't really 585 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 1: build a device here on Earth that can study them 586 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,680 Speaker 1: because they can't get here UM. And there was so 587 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: there was some worry about cosmic rays, which could be 588 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: potentially incredibly dangerous to humans. It could cause lots of 589 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:57,879 Speaker 1: problems that that would be an issue. But again, uh, 590 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:02,600 Speaker 1: not not as as gary as it would first sound. 591 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: That we're talking about stuff that is on a tiny 592 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 1: scale and lasts, so it doesn't exist long enough for 593 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,040 Speaker 1: it to really do anything other than give us really 594 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: cool information about how to study this stuff beyond a 595 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,080 Speaker 1: laboratory environment. And that's important too, because you know the 596 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:27,280 Speaker 1: implications for the study they fall. There's a domino effect. 597 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,080 Speaker 1: It affects other stuff, including things like if we ever 598 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:36,640 Speaker 1: wanted to look at space exploration, exploration or colonization beyond 599 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:41,400 Speaker 1: what we've already done, you know, manned exploration and colonization. 600 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 1: We need to know more about cosmic radiation because this 601 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,320 Speaker 1: is stuff that we have to protect ourselves against. Otherwise 602 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,200 Speaker 1: we could end up having a tragedy on our hands, 603 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: where you know, everything technologically works fine, we just didn't 604 00:39:55,719 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: take into account other factors that would be and play 605 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,640 Speaker 1: in the far reaches of space. So there are definitely 606 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,800 Speaker 1: some some applications to this future application. So that's beyond 607 00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:11,040 Speaker 1: just the fact that we have an understanding of our universe, 608 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,279 Speaker 1: which personally, I think is important enough on its own 609 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 1: to justify the existence of something like this. Um, I'm 610 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 1: sorry you're gonna say something. Well, no, I didn't know 611 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,560 Speaker 1: if you had another point to add about the actual No, No, 612 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: that's that's that. I think that's a That's pretty much 613 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:29,719 Speaker 1: all I have about the cans apart from I. Then 614 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,840 Speaker 1: we're gonna I can talk a little bit about the 615 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: the various sites UH and and equipment that's connected to 616 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:40,759 Speaker 1: the LHC. All right, Um, well, yeah, the when it, 617 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:44,279 Speaker 1: when it's working at full strength, it should be able 618 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:49,360 Speaker 1: to uh smash particles up to seven times the amount 619 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:54,120 Speaker 1: of force that current um the current colliders around the 620 00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:58,760 Speaker 1: world can um. The you know, the in the United States. 621 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: The uh Fermi Lab has the most powerful collider that 622 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:04,919 Speaker 1: we have here in this country, and they actually were 623 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,759 Speaker 1: going to build another one to rival the LHC. Yes, 624 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: actually was going to be larger than the LHC. Yes. However, um, 625 00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:16,640 Speaker 1: those are expensive and the United States eventually donated money 626 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:21,920 Speaker 1: to the LHC project. Um so basically they said, okay, 627 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,480 Speaker 1: well we'll just go in with you guys for right now. Yeah, 628 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:28,959 Speaker 1: because you know, because after all, it is a friendly rivalry. Well, 629 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:32,279 Speaker 1: and I mean, ultimately, this is all about uncovering more 630 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: information about the universe, not about you know, it's it's 631 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:37,480 Speaker 1: not like the space race. It's not a political thing, no, 632 00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:41,080 Speaker 1: not not to that extent, Not to the extent there. Yeah, 633 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:47,120 Speaker 1: there's the there's the bragging rights issues. So um so yeah, 634 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: they they've gone to a great deal of effort to 635 00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:53,600 Speaker 1: to build this device. Hey it's Jonathan from two thousand nineteen. 636 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,920 Speaker 1: It looks like I really mess things up by dropping 637 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 1: that piece of bread down that ventilation shaft, and so 638 00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:01,880 Speaker 1: I've decided to go back to two thousand twelve to 639 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,440 Speaker 1: stop the other two thousand nineteen me from doing that. 640 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,839 Speaker 1: But we're just gonna do that while we take this 641 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:18,160 Speaker 1: quick break. So which projects did you want to Well, 642 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: I was going to mention the major ones. So there's 643 00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:23,880 Speaker 1: a like I said, there's the different collision points, the 644 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,040 Speaker 1: detector sites. Uh. The one of the major ones is 645 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:35,600 Speaker 1: called ATLASES, which stands for a Toroidal LHC Apparatus atlas uh, 646 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:40,239 Speaker 1: and that is it's a measuring device. It's about long, 647 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:44,520 Speaker 1: which is about hundred forty seven ft twenty five tall 648 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:49,480 Speaker 1: which is two ft, and it weighs about seven thousand tons, 649 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 1: and it's an observation station. Uh. Just that's probably the 650 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:55,640 Speaker 1: biggest one. I would say it's the most well known 651 00:42:55,880 --> 00:43:01,560 Speaker 1: out of the people who have studied the whole LHC development. 652 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,800 Speaker 1: There's also my favorite is ALICE. Yes, the a large 653 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,479 Speaker 1: Ion Collider Experiment or ALICE. That's the one that I said, 654 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:12,480 Speaker 1: you know, there were there was a device specifically designed 655 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:17,480 Speaker 1: to look at the collisions of iron ions. This is it, 656 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:23,160 Speaker 1: and that's specifically to look at conditions that would have 657 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: been present right after the very early stages of the 658 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 1: Big Bang. So um, yeah, that's ah, you know, that's 659 00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:37,120 Speaker 1: that's the one that specifically is about that the all 660 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,719 Speaker 1: the stuff references I was making earlier in the episode. 661 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:44,440 Speaker 1: Then there's CMS, which is the compact muon solenoid experiment, right, 662 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:47,359 Speaker 1: and that one can actually generate a magnetic field that's 663 00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:50,600 Speaker 1: one times almost one hundred times stronger than the Earth's 664 00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:55,239 Speaker 1: magnetic field. Um. Powerful stuff. There's the so if your 665 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:58,080 Speaker 1: forks suddenly fly across the room and stick to the wall, 666 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:01,480 Speaker 1: they got it to work. That's a joke. The Large 667 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:06,080 Speaker 1: Hadron Collider Beauty Detector, which is looking for a beauty quirk, 668 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:08,560 Speaker 1: which is what you can find on Cindy Crawford's face. 669 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,239 Speaker 1: She's got a little beauty quirk right there, bubber lip. 670 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: This is known as LHC B. It's a great Pepsi commercial. 671 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:21,320 Speaker 1: This is rapidly devolving. Yeah alright, no, so beauty quark 672 00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:25,919 Speaker 1: is one of those um, those uh, those subatomic fundamental 673 00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: particles that only exists for a fraction of a second. 674 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:34,200 Speaker 1: Then there's the Total Elastic and Defractive cross Section Measurement 675 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:38,759 Speaker 1: Experiment or totem UM. That's one of the smaller detectors 676 00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:43,239 Speaker 1: in the LHC, and it measures the size of protons 677 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,920 Speaker 1: and how effective the LHC actually is. So in other words, 678 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,240 Speaker 1: this this is really to make sure that the LHC 679 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:55,480 Speaker 1: is in fact performing at UH at the level that 680 00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:58,600 Speaker 1: it needs to. So it's it's almost like it's more 681 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:03,280 Speaker 1: about the the measuring device than about what it's measuring, 682 00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:07,160 Speaker 1: which is sort of funny because after all this time 683 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,439 Speaker 1: and all this money and effort that have been spent 684 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,879 Speaker 1: on it, the LHC is still not working at full capacity. Well, 685 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 1: it's also had a few delays. One of those delays, 686 00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:19,920 Speaker 1: there was one delay where I mean, you're talking about 687 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 1: the most complex machine ever built, right, So it's it's 688 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:29,480 Speaker 1: incredibly complicated, which also means there are a lot of 689 00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:34,200 Speaker 1: different points of failure, and there have been several fairly 690 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:38,560 Speaker 1: well publicized failures that the LHC suffered on its way 691 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:43,320 Speaker 1: to becoming operational, Like the Dusk Star. UH, there were ewoks. 692 00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:48,120 Speaker 1: Ewoks definitely were a problem. No, no, there was one 693 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:50,400 Speaker 1: of them was there was a leak and the liquid 694 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,960 Speaker 1: helium UH system, which led a lot of people to 695 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:57,280 Speaker 1: make jokes about scientists speaking in high pitched, squeaky voices. 696 00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,520 Speaker 1: But you know, liquid helium, I would not recommend in 697 00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:06,560 Speaker 1: hailing it. It would kill you instantly. Uh, maybe not instantly, 698 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,160 Speaker 1: but it would definitely kill you. Because you're talking about 699 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:11,760 Speaker 1: something that's so cold that it would, you know, destroy 700 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,960 Speaker 1: any tissue it came into contact with. Not a pleasant 701 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,759 Speaker 1: way to go, I would imagine, But anyway, liquid helium leaks, 702 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:20,400 Speaker 1: so they had to repair that to get the magnets 703 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:24,520 Speaker 1: working properly. Um there was there are tens of thousands 704 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:28,719 Speaker 1: of magnets, lots and lots of magnets UM for the 705 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,360 Speaker 1: big ones. I think there's nine thousand, six hundred, and 706 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:33,799 Speaker 1: then there are a bunch of support magnets too, UM 707 00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:38,719 Speaker 1: magnet schools as well around the whole area. The The 708 00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:44,200 Speaker 1: the other big failure news story was what we alluded 709 00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:46,960 Speaker 1: to early in the podcast about there was a story 710 00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:50,239 Speaker 1: that something had fouled up some of the instruments for 711 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,359 Speaker 1: the LHC and and delayed its opening, and they had 712 00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:56,640 Speaker 1: no idea what it was. They linked it, they they 713 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:01,759 Speaker 1: they flipped the switch. Yeah, they linked it to the possibility. 714 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:08,799 Speaker 1: Apparently a bird dropped some bread, specifically a piece of baguette. 715 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 1: Because we're talking about France and door Switzerland, so strutle 716 00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:19,319 Speaker 1: not to be Germany. Um, so I dropped a piece 717 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:25,080 Speaker 1: of baguette down a ventilation shaft which would eventually ended 718 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:28,400 Speaker 1: up gumming up some of the works and causing mechanical 719 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:32,840 Speaker 1: failure electrical failure, which set back the operational date of 720 00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:41,400 Speaker 1: the LHC UH and created a wonderful um ground for 721 00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:47,000 Speaker 1: some amazing jokes. Of course, also, I mean, since the 722 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,480 Speaker 1: LHC has come online, we've heard other funny jokes, like 723 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:57,440 Speaker 1: the possibility that neutrinos, which are particles that have no mass. 724 00:47:57,920 --> 00:47:59,720 Speaker 1: So you remember I was talking about there's some particles 725 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:02,439 Speaker 1: that have mass and some that don't. Neutrinos don't have mass. 726 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: So why do neutrinos have no mass while other particles 727 00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:07,400 Speaker 1: do have mass. That's again one of the questions we 728 00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,960 Speaker 1: want to ask um. Some experiments that are related discern 729 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:17,160 Speaker 1: seemed to indicate that neutrinos were traveling faster than they should, 730 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,240 Speaker 1: faster than the speed of light, that they were actually 731 00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:24,839 Speaker 1: arriving at their destination fractions of a second before they 732 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:28,000 Speaker 1: should have, and that if this were in fact true, 733 00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:31,480 Speaker 1: that it would mean that neutrinos could travel faster than 734 00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:33,680 Speaker 1: the speed of light and would call into question lots 735 00:48:33,719 --> 00:48:39,120 Speaker 1: of fundamental things we believe about the universe. Ah, while 736 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:43,440 Speaker 1: that's still kind of unfolding, it appears that all of 737 00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:48,800 Speaker 1: that was really more down to some very simple errors, 738 00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:52,560 Speaker 1: and that neutrinos in fact do not travel faster than 739 00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:55,359 Speaker 1: the speed of light. This did not stop people from 740 00:48:55,480 --> 00:49:01,560 Speaker 1: making jokes like neutrino knock, knock, who's there? Like that's 741 00:49:01,600 --> 00:49:05,359 Speaker 1: where our idea. The neutrino arrives before the joke does. Um. 742 00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:13,160 Speaker 1: So yeah. So there's a couple of interesting stories about 743 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,040 Speaker 1: the LHC. There are a lot more of them. I mean, 744 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:18,720 Speaker 1: there's also the whole story about the people who wanted 745 00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:22,319 Speaker 1: to SUECERN to keep the LHC from going online because 746 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:27,839 Speaker 1: they firmly believe that the facility would destroy the Earth 747 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,080 Speaker 1: if it were turned on. Despite the fact that we 748 00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:32,920 Speaker 1: should point out LHC is what what it's doing is 749 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,799 Speaker 1: simulating stuff in a laboratory that happens all the time 750 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:40,640 Speaker 1: in the universe, and the universe is still around. So like, 751 00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:45,440 Speaker 1: like these particles smashing into things at incredible speeds that 752 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:48,520 Speaker 1: happens all the time in the universe. It doesn't happen 753 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:50,840 Speaker 1: on the surface of Earth so much because we have 754 00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,560 Speaker 1: a magnetic field and atmosphere that that prevents it from happening, 755 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:57,560 Speaker 1: But it happens all the time out in space, and 756 00:49:57,680 --> 00:50:02,440 Speaker 1: we don't see any evidence of that wreaking havoc. So 757 00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:05,799 Speaker 1: there's no real difference between it happening out in space 758 00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:08,000 Speaker 1: and having in a in a lab, apart from the 759 00:50:08,040 --> 00:50:10,560 Speaker 1: fact that it's a controlled environment that we can actually observe. 760 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: So a lot of the objections that people raised were 761 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:17,000 Speaker 1: really they had no merit, And if you thought about 762 00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:19,520 Speaker 1: it for a few minutes, you realize, wait a minute, 763 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:22,279 Speaker 1: if this happens all the time anyway, and we're all 764 00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:26,920 Speaker 1: still around, chances are it's not a big problem. So 765 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:29,880 Speaker 1: there was there were those stories too, which you know, 766 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,400 Speaker 1: ultimately we're still around. The LEGC has been working, so 767 00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:34,520 Speaker 1: it doesn't seem to be a problem. Plus we've also 768 00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:37,920 Speaker 1: had other particle accelerators that been doing work very similar 769 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:41,440 Speaker 1: to the LHC for years, not at the level of 770 00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:47,680 Speaker 1: the LHC, but but comparable work. So those held no water. 771 00:50:48,640 --> 00:50:52,360 Speaker 1: And there are other LHC stories too that are interesting 772 00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,359 Speaker 1: and I'm using um to varying degrees depending on how 773 00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:57,920 Speaker 1: dorky you are. For me, there are a lot of them. 774 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:01,560 Speaker 1: That's how dorky I am. Well, I'm interested to see 775 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,279 Speaker 1: what happens when they finally get the machine running at 776 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:07,959 Speaker 1: full power, UM, they they think they may have found 777 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:13,640 Speaker 1: the Higgs boson um you know, running in approximately half power, 778 00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:17,200 Speaker 1: and so just imagining what's going to happen when they 779 00:51:17,239 --> 00:51:20,040 Speaker 1: can get it running at full strength, they may be 780 00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:23,600 Speaker 1: able to to, uh do some confirmation of some of 781 00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:27,719 Speaker 1: these these things, at least, you know, repeat the experiments 782 00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:30,840 Speaker 1: and get them to uh to produce similar results. So 783 00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:33,440 Speaker 1: it's it'll be interesting. And I think one of the 784 00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:37,040 Speaker 1: nice things about it is too that UM with this 785 00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:40,080 Speaker 1: device science has been able to capture a few headlines 786 00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:43,640 Speaker 1: UM well, because it doesn't all that I think it's Yeah, 787 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,240 Speaker 1: I think it's definitely one of the many scientific endeavors 788 00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:50,719 Speaker 1: that is UM that's prevalent in the news that has 789 00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:54,640 Speaker 1: really helped kind of bring you know, it's a weird 790 00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,200 Speaker 1: word to use, but sort of a renaissance and interest 791 00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:03,120 Speaker 1: in science because that partnered with some of the space 792 00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:06,719 Speaker 1: exploration stories we've talked about recently on the podcast and 793 00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:10,399 Speaker 1: just stuff that's recently in the news, I think has 794 00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:14,520 Speaker 1: really kind of inspired new generations of potential scientists and 795 00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:19,440 Speaker 1: engineers to really push themselves and and and push forward 796 00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:24,279 Speaker 1: our barriers of knowledge, which is fantastic. So that's also 797 00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:27,080 Speaker 1: a huge contribution, you know. And I forgot the one 798 00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:29,279 Speaker 1: story that we had talked about before the show that 799 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:34,320 Speaker 1: I wanted to mention that the one bizarre theory that 800 00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:38,360 Speaker 1: the reason why the LHC was failing so many times 801 00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:41,000 Speaker 1: or and or the reason why it was so hard 802 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,960 Speaker 1: to find the Higgs boson was that the Higgs boson 803 00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:49,840 Speaker 1: itself was some form of sentience was traveling back in 804 00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:54,960 Speaker 1: time from the future to sabotage the LHC so that 805 00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:57,720 Speaker 1: we would not be able to discover the Higgs boson, 806 00:52:57,880 --> 00:53:00,680 Speaker 1: because were we to discover the Higgs boson on, a 807 00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:04,040 Speaker 1: series of events events would unfold that would be so 808 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:09,719 Speaker 1: incredibly catastrophic as to bring the entire universe's safety into 809 00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:12,879 Speaker 1: jeopardy or something along those lines. Essentially, it's the story 810 00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:17,160 Speaker 1: of Terminator Too, but done with a Higgs Boson in 811 00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:22,719 Speaker 1: place of Arnold Schwartzenegger. I'm I mean, sort of, which 812 00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:25,800 Speaker 1: is and I was telling Chris, like, the more I 813 00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:29,080 Speaker 1: read about this, the more I could not tell if 814 00:53:29,320 --> 00:53:33,320 Speaker 1: this was just someone being incredibly tongue in cheeks silly 815 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:36,480 Speaker 1: about it and just you know, sort of well, you know, 816 00:53:37,200 --> 00:53:39,080 Speaker 1: the reason the all age he has had so many problems, 817 00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:41,960 Speaker 1: it's probably because blah blah blah blah blah, or if 818 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:47,520 Speaker 1: it was someone who genuinely believed this bizarre theory. I 819 00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:49,680 Speaker 1: honestly don't know the answer to that. I'm hoping it's 820 00:53:49,719 --> 00:53:52,600 Speaker 1: the first case, because that's awesome. It's almost like it's 821 00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:57,440 Speaker 1: almost like if Andy Kaufman were a quantum physicist. You know, 822 00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:02,680 Speaker 1: the problem is that this sub atomic theoretical particle has 823 00:54:02,719 --> 00:54:05,640 Speaker 1: traveled from the future and is is mucking about with 824 00:54:05,719 --> 00:54:07,640 Speaker 1: all of our works so that we can't find it. 825 00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:12,840 Speaker 1: That sounds like an Andy Kaufman joke to me. So anyway, 826 00:54:14,239 --> 00:54:17,760 Speaker 1: that's kind of the basis of how the LHC works 827 00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,520 Speaker 1: and what it does and why it's important, and the 828 00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:23,040 Speaker 1: work that's going on is amazing. I mean, the the 829 00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:26,960 Speaker 1: reason why CERN has that grid of computers that we 830 00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:30,239 Speaker 1: talked about is because the amount of data that the 831 00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:35,680 Speaker 1: LHC gathers every second is huge, basically millions of snapshots 832 00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:38,640 Speaker 1: what's going on. So there has to be this massive 833 00:54:38,719 --> 00:54:43,520 Speaker 1: network of grid computers there to help decipher what all 834 00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:48,439 Speaker 1: that data actually means and to make it meaningful to us. So, yeah, 835 00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:52,560 Speaker 1: it's a phenomenal project that's continuing, and I hope that 836 00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:55,680 Speaker 1: they continue doing great science. I can't wait to see 837 00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:58,440 Speaker 1: what else comes out of it. And that wraps up 838 00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:02,879 Speaker 1: this classic episode of text Stuff. It was a weird one. 839 00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:06,200 Speaker 1: There was that one part where I was fighting myself 840 00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:09,239 Speaker 1: from like twenty minutes before. You didn't get to hear 841 00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:11,320 Speaker 1: any of that because it all happened during the commercial breaks. 842 00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:14,080 Speaker 1: But um, you know, I think I learned a lot 843 00:55:14,120 --> 00:55:17,759 Speaker 1: about myself. Tarry learned a lot about me too. Yeah. 844 00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:20,200 Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about me, or you 845 00:55:20,239 --> 00:55:23,400 Speaker 1: want to give suggestions for the show, you can contact 846 00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:26,080 Speaker 1: me by email the addresses tech stuff at how stuff 847 00:55:26,120 --> 00:55:28,960 Speaker 1: works dot com, or pop on over to our website 848 00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:32,560 Speaker 1: that's tech stuff podcast dot com. You'll find links to 849 00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:36,279 Speaker 1: our presence on social media. You'll find an archive of 850 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,960 Speaker 1: all of our past episodes. Ever, you will also find 851 00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:42,400 Speaker 1: a link to our online store, where every purchasing make 852 00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:44,759 Speaker 1: goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 853 00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:52,520 Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you again really soon. Yeah. Tex 854 00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:55,200 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 855 00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:58,200 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i 856 00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:01,439 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app. Apple Pie Casts or wherever you listen 857 00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:02,520 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.