Wed, November 10, 2010
A very little Big Bang.
Scientists in Switzerland say that they have successfully re-created miniature versions of the big bang, the moment they believe the universe was created.
ALICE collaboration, which stands for A Lead Ion Collider Experiment, based in Geneva was set up to try to recreate what happened in the moments after the collision 13.7 billion years ago.
It's believed that the galaxies, stars, planets and eventually life as well as the laws of physics emerged as a result of the collision.
ALICE Spokesperson Juergen Schukraft is excited about the possibilities.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) JUERGEN SCHUKRAFT, ALICE SPOKESPERSON, SAYING:
"The big bang starts here, today we are here. What we want to study is this region, the first time the universe did not consist only of elementary objects but when these elementary objects coalesced into combined objects. Protons, neutrons and and later on nuclei."
The "Mini Bangs" are produced by smashing lead ions together at enormous energies created by a particle accelerator.
By observing how the particles behave after colliding, researchers hope to unveil secrets of the cosmos.
Secrets such as the make-up of dark, or invisible, matter and if there are more dimensions than the four already known.
