Chapter
Controlling the World's Largest Particle Accelerator
16:42 - 25:27 (08:44)
Learn about the challenges of controlling and monitoring the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, from a remote control room at CERN. The control room is responsible for ensuring the safe and successful operation of the LHC, which requires precise and complex control mechanisms.
Clips
Paul Dirac predicted the existence of the anti-electron or positron using a combination of quantum mechanics and relativity.
16:42 - 18:00 (01:17)
Summary
Paul Dirac predicted the existence of the anti-electron or positron using a combination of quantum mechanics and relativity. The discovery led to the finding of other unknown particles.
ChapterControlling the World's Largest Particle Accelerator
Episode#92 – Harry Cliff: Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The Standard Model explains how fundamental particles interact with each other in our universe.
18:00 - 18:40 (00:40)
Summary
The Standard Model explains how fundamental particles interact with each other in our universe. When a particle meets its antiparticle, they annihilate each other and their mass is turned into energy, usually in the form of light.
ChapterControlling the World's Largest Particle Accelerator
Episode#92 – Harry Cliff: Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
In the 1930s, particles beyond matter and antimatter were discovered in cosmic ray experiments.
18:40 - 19:37 (00:56)
Summary
In the 1930s, particles beyond matter and antimatter were discovered in cosmic ray experiments. By the 1960s, particle accelerators produced even more of these particles, leading to the discovery of about a hundred of them.
ChapterControlling the World's Largest Particle Accelerator
Episode#92 – Harry Cliff: Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The first accelerators were built in 1932, such as the cyclotron by Ernest Lawrence, which was a small accelerator.
19:37 - 22:36 (02:59)
Summary
The first accelerators were built in 1932, such as the cyclotron by Ernest Lawrence, which was a small accelerator. The main challenge in controlling beams is steering them with magnetic and electric fields, despite being spatially small.
ChapterControlling the World's Largest Particle Accelerator
Episode#92 – Harry Cliff: Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast
The LHC at CERN has a large control room where the engineers remotely monitor the system, since no one can be in the tunnel when it is running.
22:36 - 25:27 (02:51)
Summary
The LHC at CERN has a large control room where the engineers remotely monitor the system, since no one can be in the tunnel when it is running. During the LHC’s launch event, the software triggered numerous alarms, causing the engineers to assume a software issue, but in reality, it was due to a catastrophic event.