• Question: do you know about particle accelirators? do you use them or study them in your job?

    Asked by Rojan H to Calum on 21 Mar 2025.
    • Photo: Calum Cunningham

      Calum Cunningham answered on 21 Mar 2025:

      Yes I have used a synchrotron before, which is a type of particle accelerator for electrons. Researchers use the high energy electrons and X-rays produced to look inside materials. There’s a very big synchrotron in Oxfordshire called Diamond – it’s very cool! I used it to look at the structure of zirconium alloys.

Comments

  • Photo: Andreas

    Andreas commented on :

    Hi,
    I work on the currently largest particle accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It has a circumference of 27km (roughly the length of the circle tube line in London). The LHC uses protons (hydrogen nuclei) which come out of a bottle quite similar to what you might use to inflate balloons! The LHC is an exciting place to work. There are 4 big experiments. I work on ATLAS with 3000 people from all over the world.

  • Photo: sineadeley

    sineadeley commented on :

    Hi – I work at CERN and use data from the Large Hadron Collider in my work. I actually work on one of the smallest experiments called FASER, we look for fun things such as neutrinos and particles that can ‘talk’ to dark matter. As andreas said – its insane that the proton comes out of a bottle and creates such amazing physics results. Its a very cool place to visit, as you feel very official in your helmet, dosimeter (like a pedometer for radiation) and we also have to carry gas masks!