The world's biggest atom smasher

Scientists are celebrating the successful start up of the world's biggest physics experiment. A team at the European Centre for Nuclear Research near Geneva have managed to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher. Matt McGrath reports:

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Soon, the team here will introduce a second beam travelling in the opposite direction. Within weeks, these beams will be forced to collide at several detection points around the tunnel. This will generate temperatures many times hotter than the sun, but focussed in a space millions of times smaller than a speck of dust.

The subsequent sub-atomic particles that will be generated will be analysed in great detail by researchers all over the world. They believe that in this data will be the evidence that will explain some of the mysteries of the universe, what everything is made of and how the cosmos is held together.

Matt McGrath, BBC News, Geneva

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tentative
not very confident or certain, a little too careful (because you don't know what the result might be)

protons
a term in physics describing a type of smallest existing particles (protons are stable elementary particles that are part of any atomic nucleus and carry a positive charge equal to that of the electron's negative charge)

steering it around the circuit
guiding it around the tunnel

to collide
to hit each other while travelling at a great speed, producing a lot of energy

detection points
places where measuring devices are installed

focussed in a space
contained/concentrated in a space, confined to a volume

a speck
a tiny amount/particle

sub-atomic
particles that are smaller than atoms and are parts of an atom, e.g. protons and electrons

analysed in great detail
studied very carefully for their properties and behaviour

the cosmos
the universe as an orderly system

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