A group of eight Physics students and two members of staff from SJR set off on a three day journey of discovery to CERN, the world’s most iconic scientific research facility in Geneva. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of nature.
Our adventure started with an early morning flight from Liverpool so that we could maximise our time in Geneva. The accommodation at the City Hostel was ideal.
What we did
Wednesday – day 1
On our fist day in Geneva we set off to explore the old town while we where waiting to book into our rooms at the City Hostel. We headed straight towards Lake Geneva to see the Jet d'eau (reputed to be the tallest fountain in the world). The fountain, to our disappointment was not on! Not deterred we boarded a boat across the lake. We disembarked at the other side and walked to the impressive 12th century St Peter’s Cathedral. The long climb up the 157 stone spiral steps to the north tower of the cathedral was well worth it for the spectacular panoramic view across the roof tops to the Jet d'eau on Lake Geneva which had by then been switched on!
After lunch in one of the local cafés we headed for Bastions Park where the Geneva outdoor ice skating rink is located. Ice skating in the open air was great fun. We returned to the Hostel to check in to our rooms and relax before our evening meal.
Thursday – day 2
The day stared with a continental breakfast at a nearby boulangerie which was very nice. From there we went onto Stettler’s Chocolate Shop for a tour of the workshop and a demonstration of hand made chocolate production. Sampling the goods was compulsory!
A tram and a bus ride later and having completed our quiz, we arrived at CERN.
Our time at CERN began with a visit to the Universe of Particles Exhibition at the Globe Museum, which is itself an impressive building. The exhibition encourages students to confront the great questions of contemporary physics, currently being explored at CERN via the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The entire Universe is made up of particles. But where do they come from? What laws govern their behaviour? After a short break for lunch we were ready for our guided tour.
Our tour guide began with a very informative talk and PowerPoint presentation. He explained in plain language what scientists at CERN are trying to achieve. He described how the LHC works and what it does. The students listened intently as he told them how beams of charged particles are accelerated in opposite directions round the 27km beam line and that when they have reached a high enough energy the beams are collided to create conditions similar to those in the first instant of the universe. He went on to describe some of the experimental facilities that are positioned at different locations around the LHC.
One of the main experimental areas is ATLAS. Students could not fail to be amazed by the sheer scale of the ATLAS detector. At 7000 tonnes it is impressive and is the size of a cathedral! Of the 600 million or so events that occur per second during an experiment, 100 - 200 of the most promising events are recorded. This corresponds to 500 Gigabytes of recorded data per second. Scientists working at ATLAS are hoping to find evidence of the Higgs boson which is predicted to be responsible for the production of matter.
A huge mural of ATLAS is painted on the building housing the control room for the experiment; the real thing is much bigger.
At the testing centre our guide explained how 1800 superconducting dipole and quadrupole magnets are used to guide the charged particles round the LHC.
The magnets are cooled to liquid helium temperature (1.9K) to keep them below the superconducting transition temperature (no resistance means no raise in temperature and so the magnets are prevented from melting!)
From the infinitely large to the infinitesimally small, the Microcosm exhibition presents students with an opportunity to explore the secrets of matter. As they worked their way through the interactive exhibition the students began to understand some of the mysteries of the universe and discover the massive apparatus used by physicists, the accelerators and detectors, and see how each part works.
A short trip to the souvenir shop rounded up the tour, then we headed off back to the Hostel.
The evening provided students with the option of sampling some local culture and cuisine at a Swiss restaurant. Here we were entertained with traditional yodelling and the opportunity to blow an enormous Alpine horn. Overall it was a memorable and fun experience.
Friday – day 3
The first ridge of the Alps rising southeast of Geneva is Mont Salève (1380m). We took a cable car to the top and from here we had fantastic views over the city to the Jura Hills opposite. On the other side we look out onto Mont Blanc and the Savoy Alps.
Was the trip of any academic value to the students? Yes without a doubt.
Part of the AS syllabus – the nature of matter, particles, from atoms à the nucleus à protons and neutrons à quarks and the forces holding them together, where all topics addressed during our visit.
Particle accelerators part of the A2 syllabus – Electric and Magnetic fields, cyclotron and synchrotron particle accelerators. Topics all covered during the guided tour.
In addition the trip may inspire budding physicists to continue with their studies by raising awareness of progression opportunities to careers in scientific research.
Should we go again next year? Definitely, it was a fantastic educational and social experience for the students and a great time was had by all. Dr Paul Dagnall (Physics teacher)
What the students said:
Alex “It was really interesting, I would really recommend going. We had a laugh as well.”
Rebecca “The museum was really good, and modern. I would go again.”
Mark “I really enjoyed the trip with our group to CERN. We all enjoyed the time over there and would definitely go again.”
Jacob “Very good and I learnt a lot about particle physics and what the scientists at CERN are trying to achieve. However, I would have liked to see more of the areas of the site e.g. the actual collider working.”
Katie “I found CERN very interesting and I really enjoyed the whole trip.”
Jess “The trip was really good. I learned a lot from going to CERN and found it very interesting. Plus the chocolate was yummy!”.
| CERN trip participants | |||
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Ryan Nuttall |
Katie Garner |
Jess Burgoyne-Hornby |
Alex Farnworth |
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Gareth Pugh |
Jacob McDonald |
Mark McDonald |
Nicola Garner |
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Paul Dagnall |
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