>>14839050its basically a gigantic microsocope.
Some structures are too small for the wavelength of visible light, so after optical microscopes, electron microscopes were invented.
However some structures are even too small for that. Yet quantum mechanics shows a relationship between the de-Broglie wavelength of an object and its energy. So higher energy = smaller wavelength = smaller structures visible.
That huge circular accelerator basically serves to make the wavelength of protons and heavy ions really, really small so smaller and smaller structures can be discovered, like the Higgs Boson.
(extremely simplified)
>>14839112summer students did a prank video. What of it?
