In January 2019, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) revealed plans to construct a new particle accelerator in Switzerland and France. This set of new particle colliders is slated to replace the current Large Hadron Collider.
The Large Hadron Collider is located in Geneva, Switzerland, and is widely considered to be among the most important and powerful machines that humans had ever created. It is composed of a sixteen mile long circular tube with sensors and magnets along the path. Scientists and physicists utilize particle accelerators, like the Large Hadron Collider, to force the collision of protons at speeds that are barely under the speed of light.
However, the Large Hadron Collider is projected to become unoperational by the late 2030’s. To continue their research, scientists at CERN decided to plan the design and construction of a bigger collider. The Future Circular Collider (FCC) would have a 62 mile circumference, in contrast to the Large Hadron Collider’s 35 mile perimeter, and is forecasted to have about ten times the power of the current particle accelerator. CERN scientists also claim that the FCC will be able to collide particles at a faster pace than its predecessor.
CERN predicts that the FCC will cost up to $22 billion and that the project will be completed by 2050. Humanity will use this gargantuan machine to solve many of the unsolved mysteries of the universe, such as the function and origin of dark matter. Humans had used the Large Hadron Collider for many important discoveries, such as the confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson particle that gives matter mass.
