• Question: Why did you call the detector ATLAS and what can you use the proton pictures for?

    Asked by zanzielover to Amanda, Ben, Dan, Gary, Samer on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Samer Kilani

      Samer Kilani answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) the acronym sounds better I know 😉 If you are wondering why Toroidal is because of the kind of magnets that are used inside the detector. We use the pictures of the proton collisions to see if we can create new particles. Protons are made of quarks (2 up quarks and 1 down quark) when they collide head-on with another proton they disappear and new particles are created. This is based on the Relativity theory which tells us that you can create mass from energy. On a rare occasion you get a new particle which you have never seen before and this is what we would like to acheive!

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