Fermilabyrinth

Accelerators Give Particles Oomph


The Story of Fermilab

The instruments that particle physicists use for their studies include accelerators, detectors and powerful computers. Accelerators give the protons enormous energy. To study very small particles scientists need very high-energy protons and very big accelerators. The particles scientists want to study are so small that they cannot be seen by the human eye or the most powerful microscope. So physicists build huge detectors to track the particles as they move outward from a collision. Scientists need computers to collect, store and analyze the information. They need computers because the experiments create a lot of data over a very short period of time and because many of the newly created particles live for only an instant. Computers also allow scientists to use the data to reconstruct events in a collision. Subatomic particles behave like waves. Understanding the properties of waves helps scientists design their experiments and interpret the results. - The rest of the story

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Work on Fermilabyrinth sponsored by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (disclaimer) Education Office and Friends of Fermilab and funded by the US Department of Energy and the North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium (disclaimer), operated by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL).
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Program Contact: Spencer Pasero - spasero@fnal.gov
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Last Updated: September 16, 1999
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