The Big Bang Experiment: In Photos and Videos

Inside the Large Hadron Collider. Image: CERN.

It's now two days since the cackling CERN scientists, bathed in the ominous glow of a Swiss full moon, flipped their contentious big switch and screamed "It's alive!". Of course, the world is still turning and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) device has been successfully started.

Yet, with a number of weeks still yet to pass before the CERN team ups the ante and begins slamming the LHC's accelerated subatomic particles together, we thought we’d trawl the Net to bring you some photographic background and video-based explanation on history’s biggest ever scientific experiment.

An underground representation of the Large Hadron Collider, which stretches for 27 kilometres. Image: Copyright/CERN.

The four main points of interest that will be utilised during the LHC experiment. Image: Copyright/CERN.

ATLAS during its beam pipe installation. Image: Copyright/CERN.

ATLAS during its calorimeter installation. Image: Copyright/CERN.

ATLAS during the installation of its detector. Image: Copyright/CERN.

One of the ATLAS semi-conductor tracker barrels. Image: Copyright/CERN.

Inside the ATLAS solenoid cryostat. Image: Copyright/CERN.

A microscopic black hole created within ATLAS. Image: Copyright/CERN.

The CMS detector. Image: Copyright/CERN.

The LHC dipole testing facility. Image: Copyright/CERN.

A diagram explanation of cryodipole technology. Image: Copyright/CERN.

Installation of one of the LHC's super-conducting magnets. Image: Copyright/CERN.

An LHC welder busy working on one of the ring's many interconnection sections. Image: Copyright/CERN.

ALICE with its magnet doors partially opened. Image: Copyright/CERN.

ALICE with its magnet doors fully closed. Image: Copyright/CERN.

An ALICE technician working on overhead gas pipes within the chamber. Image: Copyright/CERN.

Cabling within the ALICE magnet. Image: Copyright/CERN.

A simulated lead-ion collision within the LHC device. Image: Copyright/CERN.

And, finally, for those who still hold fears over the upcoming process of colliding the LHC's whizzing particles, a recent talk on LHC safety, given by Jonathan R. Ellis, might help calm you down. That talk can be viewed by clicking here.

All images are the copyright property of CERN.

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