Particle physicist Dr. Harry Cliff, co-curator of the critically-acclaimed Collider exhibition, demystifies the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest scientific experiment.
Compiled by: Chitra Santhinathan
Curator Dr Harry Cliff
WHAT MAKES SCIENCE SO FASCINATING?
Science covers everything from how a honey bee pollinates flowers to the Big Bang theory. If you like, maybe that’s the thing that makes science fascinating – it’s endlessly varied!
WHAT INSPIRED YOUR LOVE FOR PHYSICS?
I’m not sure I could pinpoint it, but what I love about physics is its incredible power to make sense of the world in terms of a few simple rules – the laws of nature. The idea that you can reduce reality to these laws, and then explain everything that exists, from black holes to the flight of a bird, is almost magical.
WHAT IS PARTICLE PHYSICS?
Particle physics is the study of how the universe works at tiny, tiny distances. It describes the atoms and particles that make up our world and the forces that bind them together. Ultimately, we’re trying to understand what makes nature tick at the fundamental level.
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Detector
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING AT CERN (THE EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH)?
CERN’s the place to be if you’re a particle physicist. There’s a real buzz about the place, especially around the time of a discovery or the start of a new run of the machine (LHC). CERN is all about collaboration, meeting people and discussing ideas.
IS PHYSICS COOL?
Well, the LHC operates at -271 degrees Celsius. That’s pretty cool!
WHAT IS THE COLLIDER EXHIBITION ABOUT?
Collider is set up like a visit to CERN, so you’ll get the feeling of being underground in the tunnels and caverns of the LHC. You’ll get to see real pieces of LHC engineering up close. You’ll encounter a number of real LHC physicists and engineers, either through full height video projection, as if they were really there, or through audio interviews that are played in the different spaces. You’ll also get to experience one of the giant particle detectors up close, and witness a high energy proton collision in our 270 degree circular projection space, snoop around the office corridors of CERN and get a feel of what it’s like to work on the biggest scientific project in history.
WHAT MAKES THE LHC SO INTERESTING?
The LHC is the biggest scientific experiment in the world – a 27km ring that smashes subatomic particles into each other at close to the speed of light – buried 100 metres under the countryside on the border between France and Switzerland. The LHC takes particles called protons, which are found inside every atom, and accelerates them to 99.9999991 per cent of the speed of light. When they collide, the energy of their motion is transformed into new types of subatomic particles that don’t normally exist in the universe. Physicists then study these particles as they fl y out from the collision point, to learn more about what the universe is made of, how the forces of nature behave and the fundamental laws of nature.
Large Electron Positron (LEP) Collider Accelerating Cavity
WHAT MAKES THIS EXHIBITION EXTRAORDINARY?
It’s the way we’ve used theatrical techniques to create sense of place and atmosphere. Collider is not a standard exhibition where you see objects in showcases and read labels. You’ll get a real feeling of walking through the CERN lab.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE EXHIBIT?
The highlight of the exhibition has got to be a beautiful 270 degree artistic interpretation of one of the giant particle detectors and the moment of a particle collision. You stand in a circular space surrounded by glowing lines produced as particles zoom out from the collision point. It’s absolutely spectacular.
Exploring the corridors of CERN.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE MUSEUM-GOERS TAKE AWAY FROM THE EXHIBITION?
I hope the exhibition excites them and they come away keen to learn more about particle physics and science in general. I also hope they’re inspired by what has been achieved at CERN – a great example of what humans can achieve when they work together.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF PHYSICS?
Exciting. We’re at a real turning point in our understanding of the universe. We’ve learnt a lot but there are still some huge unanswered questions. We know that 95 per cent of the universe is invisible to us. Hopefully the next few years will give us a clue what this enormous dark universe is made from. Or we may discover something totally unexpected.
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DID YOU KNOW?
- The LHC takes protons and whizzes them around a 27-km ring in two directions – one going clockwise, the other going anticlockwise.
- Protons collide around 40 million times every second at each of the different points in the ring, and this happens 24 hours a day, seven days a week for most of the year. That is approximately 4,000 trillion collisions every year.
- The LHC is the largest cryogenic system in the world and one of the coldest places on Earth, with a temperature of -271.3 degrees Celsius.
- One of the most amazing inventions at CERN was the creation of the World Wide Web in the 1990s.
Witness the spectacular collision among particle beams accelerating at the speed of light in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Collider, a mind-blowing exhibition at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum. The exhibition aims to engage different audiences – from the scientifically curious to those who have no prior knowledge of particle physics – by recreating the experience of being in the heart of the LHC. On until February 14, 2016. www.marinabaysands.com/ArtScienceMuseum
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