How does a particle accelerator speed up particles to near light speed?
Quick Answer
Particle accelerators use electric fields to push charged particles faster and magnetic fields to steer them around a track. The Large Hadron Collider can accelerate protons to about 99.9999991% of the speed of light.
The Full Story
A particle accelerator uses radiofrequency electric fields to give charged particles repeated energy boosts. Magnets then bend and focus the beam so it stays on the right path. In large circular accelerators, particles make many laps, gaining energy each time they pass through accelerating sections. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the world’s largest and highest-energy collider, with a 27-km ring. In 2012 it was used to discover the Higgs boson by smashing protons together at extremely high energies.
Key Facts
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