of er (t is, er ive abundance ofdeuterium in it) in underground c be interferedypes of radiation.
Very occasionally, a passing neutrino o one of tomic nuclei in terand produce a little puff of energy. Scientists count take us verysligo understanding tal properties of ted t neutrinos do not a great deal—about one ten-milliont of an electron.
it really takes to find particles ts of it. tionsininess of t and ties required to do tion for NuclearResearctle city. Straddling tzerland, it employste t is measured in square miles. CERN boasts astring of magnets t unnel oversixteen miles around.
Breaking up atoms, as James trefil ed, is easy; you do it eacime you sc ligomic nuclei, e a lot of money and agenerous supply of electricity. Getting doo ticles t make upparticles—requires still more: trillions of volts of electricity and t of a small CentralAmerican nation. CERN’s neions in 2005,rillion volts of energy and cost sometoconstruct.
1But t could upon, t and nounately never-to-be Superconducting Supercollider, ed near axaexas, in ts oed States Congress. tention of tolet scientists probe “timate nature of matter,” as it is al, by re-creating as nearlyas possible tions in ts first ten ths of a second.
to fling particles tunnel fifty-taggering ninety-nine trillion volts of energy. It o build (a figure t eventually rose to $10 billion) and o run.
In per example in ory of pouring money into a $2 billion on t, t in 1993 after fourteen miles oftunnel exas nos t expensive eis, I am told by my friend Jeff Guinn of t ortar-telegram, “essentially a vast,cleared field dotted along ted small towns.”
1tical side effects to all tly effort. t. It ed by a CERN scientist, tim Berners-Lee, in 1989.
Since ticle ps ts a little loeven comparatively modest projects can be quite breatly rino observatory at take Mine in Lead,Souta, $500 million to build—t is already dug—beforeyou even look at ts. ts.” A particle accelerator at Fermilab i