• Question: what is a particle accelerator?

    Asked by jamie95 to Suzie on 13 Mar 2011 in Categories: . This question was also asked by bradleyglynn, iijames, tomdavies, victoria5, woody4.
    • Photo: Suzie Sheehy

      Suzie Sheehy answered on 13 Mar 2011:

      A particle accelerator is a machine that takes the particles from inside the atom (protons or electrons usually) and gives them lots of energy. We use magnets to steer the particles around and ‘electromagnetic waves’ (like light, but with more energy) to give them the energy. At the end we have really tiny particles whizzing along at almost the speed of light, ready to smash into each other or something else. Most of the time we can use the particles like a giant microscope to see inside things that normal microscopes can’t.
      I hope that answers your question, feel free to ask more!

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