So I'm going to a particle accelerator with some classmates and my teacher says we should be so proud of it and all. The thing is we have not learnt about particles. :lol: :yup: So, could someone pro > please explain a little of it to me please? Something about Quarks.
A particle accelerator[1] is a device that uses electric fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field. Wow.. I had to google it and that's what wiki says Sounds interesting!! Yeah then I looked at Quark.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark Now I'm just gonna leave it and go back to my uneducated life GOODLUCK!
pretty much it does what the name says, it accelerates particles. Scientists use the accelerator to observe what happens to things as they get closer and closer to the speed of light. And of course they do it how junior said, with electric fields and all that fun stuff.
The things that are a bit less known... Basically the particles are introduced into the machine by injecting it with Hydrogen gas. Magnetic fields accelerate them along the course of the machine generating huge amounts of heat, and a lot of energy, which is basically why magnets are used. The largest one is the LHC (large hadron collider) located at CERN, where they smash particles together as nearly the speed of light to try and learn more about particles that we don't currently know about, which supposedly existed for a tiny fraction of time when the big bang happened. The quark is basically a particle that can only be studied under the effects of such a machine. CERN have a website and a lot of press clippings and information on exactly what they do, and if you youtube it, I'm pretty sure you're going to be able to find out plenty of things about it which could impress your teacher (such as how big the machine is, the fact that it's built underground for security and that people are afraid that the machine can produce a black hole that can suck the earth into it).
I believe they use particle accelerators to synthesize or just smash particles together as well. Or maybe I'm thinking of a different machine lol