William Atkins
Friday, 18 December 2009 20:19
Science -
Energy
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The Swiss organization CERN announced on December 18, 2009, that the Large Hadron Collider ended its first full period of operations, in 2009, with a record-setting 2.36 tera-electron volts of energy. And, they are predicting even more energy-generating capacity in 2010.
Earlier, on Monday, November 30, 2009, the European Large Hadron Collider (
LHC) overtook the Fermilab in the United States as the world’s most energetic particle accelerator when it hit 1.18 TeV.
At that time, the Swiss particle accelerator sent two beams of protons around its 27-kilometer (17-mile) in circumference accelerator track.
See the 12-1-2009 iTWire article "
Large Hadron Collider bangs out new world energy record."
According to the 12-18-2009 CERN press release
LHC ends 2009 run on a high note,
“At its 153rd session today, the CERN Council heard that the Large Hadron Collider ended its first full period of operation in style on Wednesday 16 December. Collisions at 2.36 TeV recorded since last weekend have set a new world record and brought to a close a successful first run for the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.”
After ending its last session for 2009, the LHC has now been delegated to a “standby” mode. It will be placed back in active operation in February 2010 after its engineers and technicians prepare the particle accelerator to accommodate higher energy collisions.
Some of these upgrades include higher electrical currents for the magnet circuits found within the LHC.
These upgrades will be performed in January 2010, along with enhancements of associated hardware and software protection systems. Other upgrades include its water cooling system.
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