The Early Universe: The Source of Chemistry – and of Our Guide

Abstract

On March 30, 2010, an experiment called the Large Hadron ­Collider (LHC) succeeded in crashing together two beams of protons at the colossal energy of 7 million million electron volts. (An electron volt is the energy given to one electron passing through an electric field of 1 V.) This was energy 3½ times greater than anything achieved before, and made up for a nervous 18 months while scientists waited to see if the billions spent on the LHC were justified. This enormous particle collider is housed in a vast tunnel spanning the border between France and Switzerland at the European Nuclear Research Centre (CERN) near Geneva. Operating 100 m underground, the LHC is the latest in a long line of experiments designed to investigate the world at a sub-atomic level and is now the most powerful tool at the disposal of scientists who work in the area of particle physics. With it, particle physicists are attempting to recreate the conditions of the very early universe.