Part 1 of 2 Parts
We have been exploring atomic structures for decades. As we have evolved our technology to be able to study smaller and smaller particles of matter, the amount of energy needed to smash nuclear particles together in order to reveal ever smaller types of particles has increased as has the size of these particle accelerators referred to as colliders.
In 2010, when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was first turned on, there was a flurry of speculation that scientists might accidentally create a black hole that could destroy the Earth. There were even lawsuits filed to stop the operation of the LHC. People asked why we would risk such an event in the pursuit of knowledge, even if the probability of disasters was remote. This brings to mind the fear that early research on nuclear chain reactions needed to create the first atomic bomb might have set the atmosphere on fire. Fortunately, this did not happen.
Particle accelerators are not just tools for pure science research, there are a lot of practical uses for particle accelerators. Unfortunately, the current accelerators such as the LHC are huge and expensive which limits their use. Now a European collaboration is exploring the possibility of building commercial particle accelerators that are much smaller than current accelerators.
The European research project is called EuPRAXIA. The design study involved forty-one laboratories operating under a grant from the European Union. The new accelerator design is based on prior work with accelerators such as the LHC but the developers have managed to shrink the accelerators down to a size and cost where it will be practical to use them in industry, healthcare and universities.
The biggest collider in the world today is the LHC. It utilizes particle acceleration to reach incredible speeds at which to collide particles. The LHC was used to establish the existence of an important predicted particle called the Higgs boson.
Smaller, less powerful accelerators have been in use since the 1930s. They have had practical applications beyond their use for research. Accelerated particles can be used to generate strong bursts of radioactivity which are very important for healthcare applications including radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and CT scans.
The problems involved in the use of accelerators for practical applications is that they are bulky, complex to operate and very, very expensive. The LHC represents the apex of experimental physics but it is a circle seventeen miles in diameter and cost seven billion three hundred million dollars to construct. The accelerators currently being used in hospitals are smaller and cheaper, but they still cost tens of millions of dollars and require an area of about six hundred thousand square yards for installation. Only large regional hospitals can afford to allocate such money and space to a radiotherapy department.
What is the reason that accelerators have to be so big? The main reason is that if they were any smaller, they would break. They are based on solid materials. If too much power is applied to the accelerators, they would be torn apart which would be expensive and dangerous.
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