A mammoth Experiment Never seen before in the history of Mankind

You Might have heard of "The Large Hadron Collider"  that appeared in Newspapers few months back. At that time there were protests that the experiment could damagae the whole Universe , and assurances from the Scientists that nothing like that will happen. Finally the experiment was stopped due to some technical glitches. So just a round in to CERN and how LHC is doing .. Ofcourse the first question is -

What is LHC ?

The Large Hadron Collider was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) with the intention of testing various predictions of high-energy physics, including the existence of the hypothesized Higgs boson and of the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetry. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe. Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.

Some Facts.. 

The precise circumference of the LHC accelerator is 26 659 m, with a total of 9300 magnets inside. Not only is the LHC the world’s largest particle accelerator, just one-eighth of its cryogenic distribution system would qualify as the world’s largest fridge. All the magnets will be pre‑cooled to -193.2°C (80 K) using 10 080 tonnes of liquid nitrogen, before they are filled with nearly 60 tonnes of liquid helium to bring them down to -271.3°C (1.9 K).

The LHC is a machine of extreme hot and cold. When two beams of protons collide, they will generate temperatures more than 100 000 times hotter than the heart of the Sun, concentrated within a minuscule space. By contrast, the 'cryogenic distribution system', which circulates superfluid helium around the accelerator ring, keeps the LHC at a super cool temperature of -271.3°C (1.9 K) – even colder than outer space!

Right Click Here (and select "Save Target As.." Or Save Linked Content As.." ) to download CERN's FAQ guide about LHC (File Size: 2.6 MB)

Why the LHC?

Then now why such a Big Mammoth Experiment for. This is to answer certain unanswered questions lingering in the history of science like What is Mass Made of ? What is the reamining 96% of Universe made of , given 4% is occupies by matter like galaxies,ants...

To know Why LHC is FOr - Click Here (CERN website link)

How is LHC now?

The architecture of the LHC, which is partitioned into eight cryogenically and electrically independent sectors, allows the commissioning of the machine on a sector-by-sector basis. When a sector reaches nominal cryogenic conditions (-271.3 °C or 1.9 K), and provided that the control systems (Quench Detection System and Powering Interlock Controllers) work correctly and give the clearance, powering tests can be performed on the magnets. 

On Thursday 8 October, sector 6-7 reached the cryogenic temperature of 1.9 K; it was followed, this week, by the last one, Sector 3-4, thus marking an important step towards the final commissioning of the machine.

CERN releases in it's latest release on LHC reads As- 

As soon as a sector reaches the nominal operating temperature, magnets are powered: three sectors are presently being commissioned with 2 kA current in the main circuits (the so-called Phase 2) and three are being powered with lower current. In the coming weeks, the hardware commissioning team will gradually increase the current in all sectors to reach 4 kA and finally 6 kA. This latter value is the one needed to correctly guide particle beams travelling in the machine at the nominal energy of 3.5 TeV.