2005 NSF Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program

Particle Accelerator.ppt

Of the instruments discussed on this website, particle accelerators are by far the largest.  The largest accelerator at Fermilab near Chicago is about 4 miles around, and the largest accelerator at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland is almost 17 miles around!  These huge instruments act like giant microscopes, probing matter at high energies in order to reveal the structure deep within. 

At one point in history, atoms were thought to be the most fundamental (smallest) building blocks of matter.  As time progressed, this was found to be untrue, as protons, neutrons, and electrons were found to be smaller entities that exist within the atom.  Using particle accelerators, scientists have learned that there exist particles even smaller than the protons and neutrons found within the nucleus of an atom.  At what point will scientists discover the most fundamental particle(s) of all?  This is part of the excitement of modern particle physics!

Check out the PowerPoint presentation to learn some of the fundamentals of particle accelerators and detectors.  To learn more about fundamental particles and particle accelerators, see the books, videos, and web links on the “resources” page of this website.