Trouble at the LHC

By Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on Sep 21, 2008 at 11:39 pm

A major helium leak has shut down work at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

In order to fix the problem, the machine will have to be warmed up from its operating temperature of minus 271.3 degrees Celsius (minus 456.3 degrees Fahrenheit), spokesman James Gillies said.

“Because the LHC is a superconducting machine that works at very low temperatures, in order to get in and fix it we’ve got to warm it up, then we go and fix it, and then we cool it down again, and that’s a process that’s likely to take two months,” he said.

The $9 billion machine was only in operation for ten days before the leak shut it down. Link -Thanks, Carrie!

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mrmuggles
Sep 21st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Well at least we are going to leave for another 2 months! Yay!
StuckeyJ
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html

Actual LHC footage…
Al_
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 12:11 am
Phew! We’ve staved off destruction for another few weeks!
just a guy
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 3:25 am
If it takes you 2 months to leave, something is wrong with your exit strategy!

Seriously, though, the delay is annoying. I just want them to do the darn collisions so when nothing apocolytic happens, people will be calm again. like when Y2K hit, etc…

Still, though, entropy becomes much more of an antagonist as complexity rises (this is one reason shuttle launches are delayed so often), and the LHC is pretty complex.
b°b
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 am
A large helium leak… makes me wonder what the person that discovered the leak sounded like.
Dave
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 7:52 am
So is “helium leak” CERN’s way of saying “half of the LHC disappeared into a black hole”? Kinda like the equivalent of “weather balloon” when people report UFO’s in the US.
Evil Pundit
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 am
Only in operation for ten days? Then it’s still under warranty!
K!P
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
there is no leak. only a black hole sucking the helium
LV
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
When you build the biggest, most complicated machine in the history of mankind there will be problems.
sigh
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 am
LV said “When you build the biggest, most complicated machine in the history of mankind there will be problems.”

But these are supposed to be the smartest scientists in the world. No excuse. Of course, if they didn’t get this little detail right, should we trust their math about black holes? LOL.

Darn. bob stole my joke.
Shish
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Helium is really difficult stuff to contain, because the molecules are so small they slip through the minutest cracks. “Major” in this case probably means a leak that would have contained air at 100psi for a century, and the amazing thing is they managed to make a structure of that size and complexity function for 10 days before they found one. I once worked in a place that made vacuum chambers, and we tested for leaks by pumping them down, puffing helium on the outside of the casing and seeing if any showed up inside. We didn’t just find leaks in the welds, we found them in the middle of inch-thick stainless steel plates where the rolling process (at the steelworks) had left a molecular-sized crack.
LV
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I would think the components still went to the lowest bidder.
DOJ
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
this is why they should’ve built two at twice the cost
Shelby
Sep 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 pm
This problem is GREAT news for us here in Batavia, Illinois, home of Fermilab. At least our jobs are safe until Thanksgiving!
Alex
Sep 23rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
@DOJ – is that a Contact reference?
Ali S.
Sep 23rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
“Leak” huh. Sounds like a cover to prevent us from learning the horrifying truth that Aliens are right now battling a group of Special Force troops in the bowels of the LHC.

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