The most powerful scientific tool, the large hadron collider, was recently sabotaged by a small mammal: the elusive weasel. On April 28, the Large Hadron Collider was reported to be offline, and scientists rushed to find out what had caused this malfunction. A team of employees indicated that they found a small charred weasel remnant near broken cable. The team at the LHC were preparing to collect some fresh data concerning the elusive Higgs Boson that had been described earlier by the research team at the LHC in 2012. This gigantic scientific instrument runs a 17-mile circuit that collides particles at high energies against one another. The Large Hadron Collider, also known as the LHC, was put offline recently by a chewed power cord which put the instrument at least until mid-May. The LHC has seen many issues like this in the past.
In 2008, helium, used as a coolant for the superconducting magnets, leaked from the coolant system causing the superconductors to heat to 100 °C more than their average temperature. The leak was very problematic for the research, and the LHC was shut down for two months as a result. The LHC works best at low temperatures and a powerful vacuum state. A faulty connection between two superconducting magnets caused the leak during an electrical test on the LHC. The high current melted the connection which caused the helium to leak out of the coolant system.
2009 brought with it new issues for the LHC. A baguette dropped by a bird onto an electrical box that supports the LHC created a short circuit that set it offline. This bird apparently dropped the delicious bread on the French side of the LHC, but the origins of the baguette are still unknown to this day. The engineers at the LHC were able to respond to this problem much faster because it only caused a short circuit in a supporting electrical box.
The LHC has paved the way for observation of elementary particles. In 2012, scientists observed the existence of a particle that most likely was the Higgs boson. This discovery was a hallmark for scientific discovery because it confirmed the existence of this hypothesized boson. The Higgs Boson, an elementary particle, interacts with other particles, like the electron, to give them mass. The team of researchers at the LHC were able to identify the split second after a particle collision where the marked trails of the Higgs Boson were noted. This confirmation of the Higgs Boson is vital for the field of theoretical physics.
Against the forces of nature, the LHC has been able to discover new particles in the area of theoretical physics. Baguettes, weasels and even meltdowns have come along the way, with plenty of other obstacles, but the team at the LHC has been able to persist in the face of calamity or hilarity.
