JAN 30, 2018

The Coldest Place On Earth

WRITTEN BY: Daniel Duan

No, I am not talking about the North or South Pole (or Winnipeg if you are from Canada). For those guess the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the France-Switzerland border, you are correct. 

The world's largest and most powerful particle collider requires superconducting electromagnets to guide and accelerate charged particles. These magnets would only work in an extremely cold condition, specifically at -456.34 F or 1.9 K—a temperature colder than outer space. Otherwise, heat would build up, and the super conductivity of electricity would be compromised.

Therefore for cooing purpose, the electromagnets, as well as many other parts of the LHC, rely on a vast network that distributes 120 tonnes of liquid helium, the same gas that is used to cool nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners.

Source: CERN via Youtube