Collider - Science Museum

This exhibition gives the effect of visiting the Large Hadron Collider, the massive experiment that I had heard of but didn't really understand. I can't tell you I really understand it now, but I understand it better.

It begins with a video on a massive curved screen (you are supposed to feel you are in the lecture theatre with the scientists who are talking about their excitement about the experiment and finding out the results) which is a nice start but I did find the computer generated people used to fill seats in video lecture theatre a bit weird and distracting.

You then walk round a model of the experiment complete with photographic tabletops scattered with notes ad safety goggles etc which is a lovely touch! There are whiteboards and videos explaining things along the way. You then enter another large curved screen area which gives you an idea of the scale of the experiment and visualizes the particles travelling through at almost the speed of light and colliding.

The last bit shows the offices of the scientist and gives a little more information on what/why they wanted to discover.

I get the gist of how the Large Hadron Collider works and it's great to feel I learned some science, 10 years after dropping AS Level Biology and Chemistry. What I don't fully understand is why the Boson Higgs Particle (that they proved exists with this experiment) is so important and what it really means and where things go from here.

It is entirely possible that this information is explained and I missed it. Although I chatted with some cleverer people than me (my dad that day, my scientist boss the next day) and both said it was very difficult to understand even for scientists....which is both comforting and frustrating as I hate being unable to understand! I think I'll need to learn slowly for myself.

Full understanding or not, this is a fascinating exhibition and provides insight and inspiration. On till 6th May 2014.


Links:

Science Museum - Collider
Wiki - Higgs Boson
CERN - Large Hadron Collider