QuoteMore than 2, actually. More like millions in each stream. But still the total mass of those particles (at rest, mind you) is still unimaginably small.

I know there are lots of them Dave I was being sorta un-technical or maybe too technical lol

QuoteMoving through several tons of machinery would be impossible but I'll ignore this bit.

what no maintenance door 

Actually Thanks Snowcrash, I actually forgot all about the magnetic field 

Latest news from the US (Tevatron) with an annoucement from the LHC deu on Wednesday apparently:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18677808

Today is the day and it's looking like they have found the Higgs boson.

Cern scientists reporting from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have claimed the discovery of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455

I won't believe it until I see them being sold in TESCOs 

So what do we know form the annoucement.

We have a new particle that is almost certainly the Higgs Bosun. 

However there reamins a very important question.

What type of Higgs have they found? 

Watch this space.........

FOund a good article on BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18708686

So they THINK they've found the Higgs, but they don't want to commit to that yet... Hmmm.

They've found something. It looks like a Higgs, smells like a Higgs and tastes like a Higgs. This is as close to a conclusion as they've got.
No one is committing yet and there maybe more than 1 Higgs.

The LHC has just finished Pb/P collisions (lead/proton) with some interesting results.

Great update  thanks for posting Snowcrash

Dave they found it, they just have to it a secret for the new Higgs spaceship engine there gonna build lol 

Doesn't seem that long ago that they re-started this thing. 

It is still doing physics. Dashboard.

The current build level has been operating for about 3-4 years. It started at 3.5GeV and got to 4GeV last year.
The 2 year planned shutdown is to upgrade the system to its designed power level of 7GeV.

All collisions are twice these energies.

Just a quick question Snowy (or three actually), I believe the Magnets used here are Super Cooled to almost 0' Kelvin, is that right and how long do you believe it will take to warm them without them cracking. Are they convection warmed or is another method used. 

The LHC has 2 cooling systems. Stage 1 is 10,080 tons of liquid nitrogen and cooled to 77K (-196C, -321F)
Stage 2 is 120 tons of liquid helium II and cooled to 1.9K (-271C, -455F). One 1/4 of this system would be the largest fridge in the world.

Everything is heavily insulated. I assume they would turn the chiller pumps off but keep circulation pumps on to gently warm everything through natural convection. It has shut down now. and there is a cryo status button on that page. I can't find anything saying how long it takes to cool/warm but it'll be in the region of days to weeks.

It's still looking cold in the cryo. Link here.

Only one section has "no cryo maintain" red, today that is.

I'm interested to see how long it takes to warm up. 4 days and counting...

One for Snowy here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21594357