Hadron Collider II planned for Circle Line

[J. Edgar]

London Underground is in talks with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) about the possibility of using the 23km tunnel of the Circle Line to house a new type of particle accelerator similar to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.

Particle physicists believe the existing tunnel can be adapted to take a small-scale "atom smasher" alongside the passenger line at a fraction of the cost of building a new tunnel elsewhere in Europe. They are understood to have approached London Underground with a view to announcing a feasibility study later this year.

Specialist engineers commissioned by Cern have already produced a preliminary report, seen by The Independent, which proposes installing supercooled magnets and collision detectors at strategic positions on the Circle Line. The main collision experiment will be sited at the newly refurbished Westminster Station, directly below Portcullis House, the offices of more than 200 MPs.

Although there are still considerable technical problems to overcome, such as a geo-magnetic "kink" in the circuitry at Edgware Road station, Cern is quietly confident that it will be able to convince London Underground of the merits of the scheme, which should result in the first air-conditioned underground line as a spin-off of installing supercooled magnets below ground.

The idea was initially mooted in the mid-1980s as an alternative site to the 27km tunnel below Geneva but the idea was dropped. Now, with improvements in technology and miniaturisation of the equipment, Cern believes it can build a successor to the Large Hadron Collider within the Circle line by 2020.

It would mean that two beams of protons would be travelling in clockwise and counterclockwise directions at 99.999999 per cent of the speed of light, within feet of Circle line passengers stuck in perpetual immobility.

However, health and safety advisers to London Underground are understood to be concerned about the proposal, and have raised the prospect of a mini black hole being created at Westminster when the two proton beams collide to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang.

A spokesman for London Underground said the proposal is not as foolish as it first seems: "It has merits."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/hadron-collider-ii-planned-for-circle-line-1932744.html

[SPEAK NO EVIL]

if this is fake - lol these journalists r going on sick today

if this is real - excited about seeing my flash foward tbh

edit nah definitely fake-"such as a geo-magnetic "kink" in the circuitry at Edgware Road statio" lol

[spiderman]

why are they so paranoid about mini black holes, that such blown-out-of-proportion point. i read somewhere that theres nothing to worry about because if they did create black holes that they would collapse (or something similar to this), insted of growing and devouring the earth.

besides if they did manage to make a black hole they should be very f*ck*ng amazed and proud that they managed to artifically impose on the laws of physics to such an extent to create something of such an extreme and exotic nature. that should easily make up for fact that your gonna die, just be proud that we managed to achieve such a feat with our last bits of life, and go out gracefully.

[Seymour Cake]

why are they so paranoid about mini black holes, that such blown-out-of-proportion point. i read somewhere that theres nothing to worry about because if they did create black holes that they would collapse (or something similar to this), insted of growing and devouring the earth.

besides if they did manage to make a black hole they should be very f*ck*ng amazed and proud that they managed to artifically impose on the laws of physics to such an extent to create something of such an extreme and exotic nature. that should easily make up for fact that your gonna die, just be proud that we managed to achieve such a feat with our last bits of life, and go out gracefully.

that is true still. whoever fully works out dark matter will be the new einstein.

although its not going to happen in our life time.

[Mr. Air Max 90]

April Fools?

[Superstition]

Circle Line is the most frivolous one as well, all the stations it goes to are served by other lines

Happily sacrifice it for science

FOR ALMIGHTY SCIENCE!

[Dubby]

didn't the LHC fail anyway?

[JGGB]

doesn't read

checks date

goes back to sleep