• Question: Mr scot lawrie I have chosen at random a scientist to talk to and you got picked but i dont know what a particle acccellerator is please coulld you alsotell me what a particle beam is

    Asked by Tonka_Boy to Scott on 8 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Scott Lawrie

      Scott Lawrie answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      Hello Tonka. I’m glad you get to talk to a scientist, so thanks for picking me! A particle accelerator is a machine that takes the ‘stuff’ of everyday life (solid, liquid or gas) and rips it apart 🙂 This releases charged particles. You remember the thing you learnt about where positive and negative charges attract to each other but two positives (or two negatives) repel apart? We make those charges. The nice thing about charged particles is that you can make them move very fast: ACCELERATE them! When there are a lot of them all moving in the same direction, we call that a ‘particle beam’.

      You can do all kinds of clever things with a particle beam. An old-fashioned TV uses one to draw a picture! You can kill cancer with them, discover the mysteries of the universe, or (as my machine does) use them to make better things like smart-phones, batteries or even chocolate!

      I hope that answers your question :mrgreen:

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