Today I went to CERN in Geneva to learn what they do there

CERN stands for European Council for Nuclear Research. It is in Geneva, Switzerland where physicists study particle physics. They do this by launching particles of hydrogen at each other in the Large Hadron Collider.
When they hit each other the scientists measure the energy from the explosion and process the data. Please note not every particle is recorded from each explosion. What has been recorded is sent to computers around the world.
The Large Hadron Collider is 27k long and it is a big ring which is underground and goes under France and Switzerland. It is 100m under the ground.
The are four detectors around the ring. They are called LHC, Alice, Atlas and CMS.

This is a diagram to explain what CERN looks like 100m below ground level.

This is a sculpture with famous discoveries made at CERN are pictured with engraving.
The LEGO model is of CERN and is not to scale. It was made by a schoolboy for his end of term project.

All the experiments at CERN start with the hydrogen. A bottle this size of hydrogen can feed the Large Hadron Collider for 200,000 years.

Linear accelerator which uses powerful magnets to push the beam of hydrogen particles with magnets to get them to the right speed.

The beam of hydrogen particles is bent around the circle using magnets called electromagnets, that are more powerful than earth’s magnetic field.
There is no air in the LHC so there is no friction, which would bend the beam in awkward directions.
The LHC is super-cooled with liquid Helium to that the superconductors work. It is -271 degrees, that is colder than outer space.
Liquid Helium which can defy gravity because it can roll or slide uphill.
They have discovered the Higgs Bosun particle at CERN.
The internet was invented at CERN for connecting the computers that worked for CERN. The computers are all over the world and Tim Berners-Lee created the internet at CERN and worked as a computer scientist.
The internet has meant that we are able to do this and take photos and send them to people.
There will be another LHC three times the size in the future.
Rowan said: “I’d recommend going to CERN if you like science and they do very good workshops.”

PLEASE NOTE: All photos taken by ROWAN TAYLOR-RAMSAY, except the ones by dad.