STOMP Visit CERN!
Last week while performing with STOMP in Geneva we had a private tour of CERN(European Council for Nuclear Research). For those still wondering, it is the home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the worlds largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It is also the location where British scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (which you are using to read this article). For some this is just scientific mumbo jumbo, but can assure you it was a very interesting and awe inspiring visit. STOMP visit CERN with a little fun thrown in for good measure.
The Synchrocyclotron
When we arrived we were greeted by Claire Lee and Denis Damazio, 2 physicists working on the ATLAS project. They were our guides for the day and our first stop on the Stomp visit CERN tour was the Synchrocyclotron. This was their first particle accelerator. Built in 1957 it provided beams for their first experiments in particle and nuclear physics. The most noteworthy thing about this part of the tour was the projector display with narration. Instead of using a screen, they used the Synchrocyclotron itself. This gave an insight into the inner workings of the accelerator and demonstrated how electromagnets were used to focus the charged particles.
The Antimatter Factory
The next stop on our tour was the Antimatter factory. It was touch and go whether Peter would be allowed in here. As you can see its a supervised radiation area and pregnant people aren’t normally allowed. But hey, we managed to sneak him through. Baby should be fine!! This building housed the Antiproton Decelerator. A unique machine that produces low-energy antiprotons and sends them to different experiments for the study of antimatter. The current antimatter experiments at CERN are ALPHA, ASACUSA, ATRAP and BASE, all of whom have their own areas in the antimatter factory.
The Microcosm
Now it was time to check out Microcosm, an interactive exhibition presenting the work of CERN. Walking around here was fascinating and reminded me of visiting the science museum in London as a child. So many interesting facts and things to see. I think my favourite fact was:- Particle beams are stored inside the Large Hadron Collider for about 10hrs. During this time, the particles make 400 million revolutions of the 27km machine, travelling a distance equivalent to the diameter of the solar system.
So they travel just around the corner!!! 😉
Experiment Time!!
After our little tour it was time to perform a little experiment in the S’Cool LAB. Under the instruction of Julia Woithe and her colleagues Zuzana and Afroditi we were to create a cloud chamber or particle detector. This was loads of fun. We used dry ice, 90% pure alcohol(sadly undrinkable), a metal plate, some felt and a plastic container to see particles that are around us all the time. In the video to the right you will see the particles in one of CERN’s very own cloud chambers.
STOMP the Universe!!
Finally it was time for us to see whether we could interact with the universe in our own special way. And being stompers there was one one way we could do this. See the results in the video below. I must stress for all the scientists out there, no scientific apparatus was harmed in the making of this film. And for all the religious nuts hating on this…get a grip it…it was just a little, “art meets science” experiment!
A huge thank you to CERN and all the people who organised this trip. We had a blast!!
