Extraordinary Machine

The judiciary comes under the scanner over charges of corruption and misconduct.

in New Delhiin Kolkata

AN electron volt is the energygained by an electron when acceleratedacross one volt ofelectric potential. This is verysmall compared to everydayenergy scale, say that of a 1 kgobject falling from a height of 1metre, which is measured inJoules (1 eV = 1.602 x 10-19Joules).In fact, 1 trillion electronicvolt (TeV) is about the energy of aflying mosquito. It is the fact thatthis energy is squeezed into aspace that is a trillion timessmaller than a mosquito thatmakes the LHC an extraordinarymachine.Given the huge number ofprotons in the beam, the totalenergy in a beam would, in fact,be equivalent to a 400 tonnetrain travelling at a speed of 150km an hour, which is enough tomelt 500 kg of copper.