Dress rehearsal
The LHC's dress rehearsal goes with a hitch.
Things are hotting up in the main control room here at Cern. We've just been through a full dress rehearsal for the big "switch on" of the Large Hadron Collider - due to take place at 8.30 tomorrow morning.
I watched on a giant computer screen alongside dozens of scientists and technicians as a beam of protons was fired down a linear accelerator, slung round two synchotrons to pick up energy, and finally dumped at the gates of the LHC.
Tomorrow those gates will be open, and - if all goes well - the first proton beam will shoot clockwise round all 27 kilometres of the LHC at very nearly the speed of light.
But it could have been very different. Last night a component on one of the cryogenics units - which cool the core of the machine to minus 271 degrees - snapped, and two sections of the LHC began to warm up again.
"It's just a little piece of wire about six inches long," operations group leader Paul Collier told me.
"But it just goes to show what can go wrong with a machine of this size and complexity."
The problem has now been fixed, and the temperature in both sections is falling back towards absolute zero. "Fingers crossed," Paul Collier says. "We're still on course for tomorrow. But if it happens again now we'll be in a lot of trouble".
But after all, something should go wrong in a dress rehearsal if it's going to be all right on the night...
I'm Tom Feilden and I'm the science correspondent on the Today programme. This is where we can talk about the scientific issues we're covering on the programme. 
Comment number 1.
At 20:09 9th Sep 2008, crabsallover wrote:Lets hope all goes well at 8.30am 10/9/08. More LHC News: https://lhc-large-hadron-collider-news.blogspot.com/
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Comment number 2.
At 21:50 9th Sep 2008, barriesingleton wrote:CERN is a wonderful icon for HALF the available science in the area of high energy physics and cosmology.
There is 50+ years of brilliant science – boasting the odd Nobel Laureate – that runs counter to Big Bang, Dark Matter et al.
As the orthodox model stumbles daily, and has to apply ever-more bizarre sticking plaster to its wounds, the Plasma (Electric) Universe with associated, self-consistent physical constructs, goes from strength to strength. It is a massive body of knowledge, that branches into rock art, mythology and mans emergence. A media feast.
BBC – the alternative truth is out there. Your listeners and viewers deserve acquaintance with its wonders.
‘Plasma Universe’ https://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/Plasma-Universe.com
‘Electric Universe’ https://www.holoscience.com/synopsis.php
‘Electric Gravity’ https://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=89xdcmfs
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Comment number 3.
At 10:22 10th Sep 2008, Terbovus wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 4.
At 11:12 10th Sep 2008, Terbovus wrote:Interesting, Tom, that out of 49 comments on your 'the end is not nigh' post at the time of writing, only three didn't assume that it actually was or might be (two of which were by me!)
I find it really concerning that there must be thousands if not millions of people out there with such a fundamental misunderstanding of the basic science that underlies basically all of the technology and gadgets they use in their lives. They also appear to be passing such misunderstandings to their children.
I'm not sure of the solution, but a greater emphasis on teaching critical thinking and on why conspiracy theories are so popular and on the poor logic that propagates them must be a part of it.
It's really distressing to read so many posts and opinions exclaiming that 'any risk is too much', or arguing that we must not utilise a new technology until its 'proven safe'.
Such statements sound reasonable to too many otherwise educated and rational people and threaten not only progress but our current wellbeing.
Its good to hear the first tests went well - I can't wait to see the undoubtedly fascinating findings coming out in the next months and years.
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