CERN atom collider experiment shut down
#1
September 23, 2:24 pm
CERN atom collider experiment shut down
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) says its particle collider will be shut down due to a helium leak into its tunnel. "There has been an incident in a test. One section of the machine will have to be repaired," CERN spokesman James Gillies announced on Saturday.
The collider, the largest of its kind in the world, will be taken offline for at least two months following a "large helium leak" due to a fault which occurred Friday afternoon.
"Preliminary investigations suggest that the most likely cause of the problem was a faulty electrical connection between two magnets, which probably melted at high current leading to mechanical failure," a CERN statement explained, adding that it poses to threat to people.
This is the second fault the Large Hadron Collider has suffered. On September 10 the LHC was started for the first time but had to be taken offline due to a problem in its cooling system.
The LHC is the most advanced scientific experiment of its kind, and aims at giving the scientific community a glimpse into the invisible world of the sub-atomic and answer mysteries.
All times are GMT. The time now is 11:16 am.
