Universe

Fuinha causes short circuit in particle accelerator of Cern

Spokesman says it will take a few days for the accelerator to work again. Animal bit transformer cable of 66000 volts and died.

A weasel is pointed out as the one responsible for the shutdown of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the gigantic particle accelerator of US $7 billion that operates in an underground tunnel on the border of France with Switzerland. The animal didn't survive the electric discharge. According to the internal documents of the European Center for Nuclear Research (Cern), which administers the LHC, the mammal bit the cable of a transformer of 66000 volts, causing "severe electrical disturbance", around 5:30 a.m. (00:30 at the time of BRASILIA). In an interview with "New Scientist", Cern spokesman Arnaud Marsollier said it will take a few days for the LHC to work again, but that the equipment is fine and will be easily repaired. Created in 2008, the accelerator is 27 km long and is considered the largest scientific experiment in the world. Its function is to collide particles at the highest level of energy ever attempted, recreating the conditions present at the time of the Big Bang, which would have marked the birth of the universe, 13.7 billion years ago.

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