I’ve had my share of oops moments. One of my most embarrassing mistakes was what captured in a photo I like to call experience materialized. But I have to hand it to the guys at CERN. After spending multiple billions on a device many kilometres in diameter that had to be aligned within millimetres. An astounding feat of technology, but given the massive amounts of energy involved and the temperature extremes, being off by a bit can cause problems. Case in point:
This link is more than a few millimtres out of alignment : (
The damage is pretty significant and the LHC will be down for quite a while as the engineers work not only to fix the damage but also make preventative changes to the entire device to avoid the problem from recurring.
It’s a big deal, but when you’re on the cutting edge of science, there are a lot of little details to sort out. When you’re doing things that have never been done before, mistakes will happen. I’m looking forward to it getting up and running though.
Ling // Dec 13, 2008 at 1:44 am
17 miles is a pretty big ring. Kinda scary, actually. I mean, what happens if there’s some major problems, which no one thought of before?
Stu // Dec 14, 2008 at 4:42 pm
This thing scares the bejeebus out of me!
Gabe G.H. // Dec 14, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I have just checked the photo, but for me both of them looks the same, but one without the cover….what is this thing for? I didn’t really get it from the text.
John // Dec 15, 2008 at 11:33 am
Big oops…
Franklin // Dec 15, 2008 at 7:01 pm
The LHC is something that truly does worry me, we are playing with some absolutely amazing forces and I hope that we can benefit from the research and data that it will provide. Maybe it will give us some insight on the technicalities of how the universe works and fabric of what makes things operate.
Josh // Dec 17, 2008 at 3:38 am
Its not a big oops…
Its a GIANT oops
Frank Polenose // Dec 17, 2008 at 11:01 am
Incredible pictures. I bet the air was turned blue!!
carrosusados // Dec 20, 2008 at 11:05 am
without a small wheel pin the entire bulk cart will fall so small things are too important
Lilla // Dec 23, 2008 at 9:36 am
Are such damages very frequent? Is there no way to avoid them?
mmo // Dec 31, 2008 at 4:18 am
I can’t even imagine how bad someone would feel about this…I like the idea of the LHC though..lets push the limits
Body Shops User // Jan 9, 2009 at 5:46 am
Looks like someone forgot to carry the one!
ED // Jan 11, 2009 at 10:13 am
without a small wheel pin the entire bulk cart will fall so small things are too important