Featured Image Credit: CERN
Topics: Environment, Science, Technology
Joshua Nair
You may be familiar with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), one of the marvels of the science world, but news has come out about a new structure that could dwarf the LHC.
While the LHC took 20 years to build and cost £6 billion to put together, a far bigger project could be in the works soon, if CERN (The European Organisation for Nuclear Research) is to be believed.
First opened in 2010, the LHC, also known as the 'death machine' in the scientific community, runs for 17 miles under Geneva, Switzerland.
It is used by scientists to work on new theories and make discoveries as we continue to learn more about the universe, all from this deep tunnel that is 100m deep.
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While it has served its purpose and improved our understanding of everything around us in the past 15 years, a plan to make one that's even bigger has already been put into motion.
Oh, and it'll cost twice as much.
It's called the Future Circular Collider (FCC), and it is planned to form a loop spanning 56.5 miles underground, at Switzerland's border with France.
As a result of its colossal size, the tunnel is set to be four times more powerful than the LHC, and will become the 'world's biggest atom smasher', ideally leading to more groundbreaking discoveries in the world of physics.
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CERN released a report on the possibility of building the FCC on Monday (31 March), as Director-General Fabiola Gianotti said that it might be 'the most extraordinary instrument ever built by humanity'.
But other experts aren't as thrilled with the idea, with some calling for it to be abandoned due to the sheer amount of carbon dioxide that would be emitted from construction.
It would only run for 15-20 years too, from around 2040, when the LHC would go out of service.
The price for this revolutionary piece of technology? Around £13.4 billion.
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Detailed plans have been released by CERN, and it reveals that the FCC would work similarly to the LHC, in that it would accelerate subatomic particles to near the speed of light in its ring, before smashing them into each other.
Superconducting magnets are responsible for getting these particles to reach these high speeds, with the collisions producing bursts of new particles that can be recorded and studied by physicists.
They're always working to learn more about our universe and this machine, which will be almost four times larger that its predecessor, will help.
Its double-strength magnets give it some extra oomph too, with hopes that it can help us understand some of the mysteries of the universe, such as dark matter and dark energy.
While the exact benefits of the new collider were not outlined by CERN, they pointed towards the fact that the discovery of the electron in 1897 led to the electronics industry.
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In its time, the LHC has made huge discoveries such as the Higgs boson, also known as the God particle, helping us understand how matter formed after the Big Bang.
It is now a key element of the Standard Model of particle physics, our best understanding of how the universe works.
While the FCC sounds exciting, there is no clear answer as to where the funding is coming from, as CERN's member states, 23 European countries (including the UK) and Israel, have until 2028 to decide if they will provide the cash for it.
Arnaud Marsollier, a CERN spokesperson, said that 80 percent of its funding would actually be funded by the organisation itself.
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However, there is a lot of push-back from environmentalists and local farmers on the collider's impact, as it would require an excavation of 16 million tons of rock, while emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide.
While the CERN council has given its unanimous approval, the organisation has released feasibility studies around its technical infrastructure and physics.