The World's 6 Best Underground Science Labs Shedding Light on the Secrets of the Universe

The World's 6 Best Underground Science Labs Shedding Light on the Secrets of the Universe. To view the universe, astronomers use telescopes located on Earth and in space. In this way, they can view galaxies, nebulae, outer planets and many celestial bodies. But they take a different approach to image the invisible forces of the universe, such as neutrinos and dark matter, going underground. You can read our news to learn about the secret and private science laboratories underground.

Being underground gives scientists protection from noise from particles entering the Earth, or from cosmic rays and other background radiation.

Or they exploit old mines underground, working on nuclear fuel, or laying particle accelerators in tunnels.

Underground Science Laboratories span two continents and shed light on the secrets of the universe. Here are the best science labs underground:

6. SNOLAB

Shared with miners, SNOLAB (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory) operates at the Vale Creighton Mine in Sudbury, 2km below ground. While miners are mining nickel at the mine in Canada, scientists at SNOLAB are dealing with astroparticle physics.

Working on dark matter and many projects, he conducts his laboratory experiments in this mine. In the Picasso experiment at SNOLAB, the dark matter particle called WIMP (weak interaction particle with mass) is trying to be detected using freon droplets. Dark matter is actually thought to make up 22% of the universe. The remaining 74% is dark energy, while only 4% is made up of matter. The part we have observed for now is this 4% substance.

With the upcoming Cryogenic Dark Matter Experiment, a solid-state detector will be made from germanium to hunt WIMPs.

5. CERN

CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire in French, meaning European Nuclear Research Center) has the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, with a series of particle accelerators 175 meters below the ground. A 27km-long magnetized ring shoots beams in two directions, colliding particles at an incredible speed close to the speed of light. Collisions take place near the four detectors around this magnetic ring. Thousands of scientists work in the underground laboratory, which has attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to the god particle (Higgs) experiment. CERN can be considered a temple of science for physicists seeking answers to how the universe came into being. Thanks to the underground rocks, the LHC is safely insulated between 50 and 100 meters.

4.MINOS

The old iron mine in Minnesota is the perfect place to learn about the fundamental particles in the universe. Several detectors for neutrinos and dark matter are located 800 meters underground.

In the MINOS neutrino experiment in 2011, this scientific laboratory found evidence for the existence of some kind of neutrino. Neutrinos are chargeless and nearly massless particles, and there are three types of electron, muon, and tau. This lab is one of two labs that observes muon neutrinos turning into electron neutrinos.

3. Gran Sasso National Laboratory

Encased in 1400 meters of rock, the Gran Sasso National Laboratory is a science laboratory dedicated to detecting the presence of neutrinos. The laboratory was built behind the highway tunnel between L'Aquila and Teramo and is 120 km from Rome.

In a previous test at this lab, particles were thought to travel faster than light. Afterwards, it was understood that there was a problem in the fiber optic system.

2. Large Underground Zenon Detector

Buried a mile behind the Black Hills in South Dakota, the detector is conducting a dark matter experiment. At the heart of the experiment, a 1,6 kg liquid xenon detector is used for particle detection.

The first results were published in October 2013 and there is said to be no evidence of dark matter. It is stated that the experiment will still continue for a few more years. Scientists still think that when light and electron interact with the WIMP, they will see it in the detector. When the WIMP touches the xenon atom, a photon will be seen in the detectors.

1. Canada Underground Atomic Energy Research Laboratory

Although obtaining nuclear fuel is always a dangerous business, it is still indispensable because it is useful for medical and other technologies. From the Underground Research Laboratory, methods are being tested to store fuel in a mass of low-permeability rock.

The laboratory, located 440 meters below the ground, shows how rocks change shape after they are excavated and what nuclear products are formed in groundwater. In one of his experiments, a tunnel with a diameter of 46 km and 3,5 meters was opened and the deformation was examined. Another experiment observes how the tunnel closes.

 

Source : yazkafe.hurriyet

Günceleme: 04/01/2014 21:38