Physicist
André David Tinoco Mendes conducted a public forum on Experimental Particle
Physics and Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European
Council for Nuclear Research) or CERN on January 29, 2014. He started his talk
with explaining progress as stepping through paradigms. The discovery of fire led
to the invention of the candle. The discovery of electricity led to the
invention of the light bulb. The discovery of plasmas led to the invention of
the fluorescent tube invention. The discovery of light-emitting diodes led to
the invention of LED light bulbs. He evoked that no discoveries will entwine no
inventions. Discoveries enable
inventions. But discoveries more often than not stem from research with: no
direct practical purpose; no immediate profit or gain; no clear path ahead; no
support from society; no intention of making discoveries. This makes it hard
for society to invest on highly diverse research which André
David encourages.
Experimental physics
is done in a controlled environment so that actual practical situations will
have a better understanding on how to be handled. André David show an
example of a situation where a car submerged underwater is to be lifted by a
crane truck on land. The problem in the example was the weights were not
computed or thought of before the procedure. The result was the car fell back in
the water with the truck pulled by it. If a physicist or an expert had been
there, he would have thought of the worst case scenario.
Particles have
been defined in different ways as time went by. André David showed a
figure on the changes of the number of different kinds of basic matter through
time. It was believed that everything was different until the four elements
were noticed to be a common characteristic in everything: Earth, air, fire and
water. Then the types became more complex. Chemical elements were discovered to
be organized. Through inventions, atomic to subatomic particles were
discovered. Today, there is a standard model of particle physics.
The standard
model of particle physics shows the relationship of Leptons, Quarks, Forces and
the Higgs boson particle. The success of the standard model of particle physics
was briefly discussed by André David. This model provides a paradigm of quantum field theory for
scientists. But he noted the issues with the standard model. It does not
explain how mass appears. Without a mechanism, the Higgs boson gives
inconsistencies at high energies. And, it does not cover the unknown “stuff”
such as dark matter and dark energy.
source: http://www.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/~coulon/Lectures/SM/SM.gif
Experimental
Particle Physics requires accelerators, detectors, computing infrastructure and,
researchers, engineers and scientists. André David discusses experimental
particle physics through the advancements in CERN. The European Organization
for Nuclear Research was founded in 1954 by twelve European countries. At
present, it comprises of 21 member states with 488 million citizens. It receives
an annual budget of about 1 billion Swiss francs.
source: CERN official website
Accelerators
are machines that make particles collide at high energies to allow scientists to
look deeper into matter and create heavy particles that do not exist in a
stable state. This came from Einstein’s equation of energy and mass and De
Broglie’s equation of Energy and spatial resolution as shown by André David.
CERN has several accelerators e.g., the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the Super
Proton Synchrotron (SPS), the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP) and the Low
Energy Ion Ring (LEIR). The LHC is the most famous accelerator. It costs about
6 billion US dollars on a 20-year investment plan by around 463 million member
state citizens. That is around 30 Philippine pesos per person per year.
source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Cern-accelerator-complex.svg/800px-Cern-accelerator-complex.svg.png
CERN
had plenty of contributions to the modern world. It is where the world wide web
was born. André David emphasized the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) which
was originally developed to help navigate information because it stood strong
unlike other protocols. CERN also made contributions in pharmaceuticals.
Research on the grid made a fast a more cost effective process. Geographic
Information System or GIS by CERN helped in disaster management and in issues
of amazon deforestation. CERN collaborated with other international
organizations in projects such as in cryogenics for energy. Open Access
Publishing was developed to grant access to peer-viewed results of publicly
funded research to anybody, anywhere and anytime. CERN also had advancements in
medical imaging with the Positron Emission Photography (PET) used for
mammography and in medical therapy with the Hadron therapy. On the issue of
climate change, from C.T.R. Wilson’s discovery of cloud chambers, CERN started
the experiment CLOUD or Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets.
André
David demonstrated an active lecture with hints of humour and defined uncommon
terms fairly well. Despite the differences of culture of the audience and the
speaker, an attentive connection filled the auditorium. His last slide
displayed “No Discovery, No Invention”. This last note serve as an advocacy for
the audience. The enthusiasm during the question and answer portion certainly proved
the interest that developed in the audience. CERN is a shining example of
research that led to discovery that led to inventions. Society should invest more
in research. Hopefully, the Philippines would embrace this advocacy.
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