Large Hadron Collider Fired Up

This just in: The world didn't end this morning. Granted, some of you may not have known that it was supposed to end today.

At approximately 5:00 AM Eastern Time this morning, the first particle beam was successfully circulated through the entire Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is no small feat, considering that the LHC is 17 miles around, and runs from 160 to 560 feet underground. The first actual particle beam injections were actually carried out last month, but this is the first time a particle was circulated through the entire LHC.

Because the purpose of the LHC is to study previously unknown realms of physics, including aspects of black holes, and even the Big Bang itself, many doomsayers were predicting that a black hole would be created that would destory the entire earth. While the Earth itself wasn't destroyed, Google announced some damage was done to their logo. They said that, while there was no permanent damage to the logo, they would have to replace and polish the Chrome:

To help clear things up, How Stuff Works provides a very clear article about the ideas behind the LHC, including a TED video. Popular Mechanics points out 5 things you need to know about the LHC now.

It took plenty of time and specialized knowledge to put the LHC together. To give you an idea of how long, the first 5 years, starting in 1983, were spent just building the concrete-lined tunnel that houses the LHC!

I won't ask you to put together the entire LHC. You only have to put together a picture of the time projection chamber (TPC) of the ALICE detector's endplates. On the other hand, I can't allow you 5 years just to get started on the puzzle.



Click here to see the rules for this puzzle.

Click on any block next to the empty space, and that block will slide into the empty space. The Shuffle button mixes the pieces, the Original button shows the finished picture, and the Numbers button puts numbers on the pieces, to give you a better idea of where they belong. The clock begins when you move your first piece, and when you solve the puzzle, the empty square will appear.

Let everyone know how you did in the comments!

(ALICE TPC image courtesy of Skalex.)