--- title: "Vast New Particle Accelerator Would Dwarf Large Hadron Collider" description: "A huge new particle accelerator called the Future Circular Collider would dwarf the Large Hadron Collider — and could help probe the mysteries of physics." date: "2019-01-15" modified: "2019-01-15" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/particle-accelerator-future-circular-collider" categories: - "Physics" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "cern" - "Higgs Boson" - "particle accelerator" - "particle physics" --- # Vast New Particle Accelerator Would Dwarf Large Hadron Collider ![]() *CERN/Victor Tangermann \Image: CERN/Victor Tangermann\* ## Atom Smasher The world's premier particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), has an impressive circumference of 27 miles (43 kilometers). But its potential successor, the Future Circular Collider (FCC), described in a [new study]() by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), would dwarf it — both physically, with a circumference of 62 miles (100 kilometers), and in terms of raw power, with [10 times the atom-smashing power](). "It shows the community the principles and feasibility of the post-LHC Future Circular Collider," CERN accelerator physicist and study leader Michael Benedikt [told *Gizmodo*](). "It shows that there is a credible, coherent physical scenario for implementing a larger-scale project that could seamlessly continue high-energy physics." ## FCC Won't Let Me Be Like the LHC, the new particle accelerator's purpose would be to probe the mysteries of exotic particles like the Higgs boson, which CERN scientists using the LHC first [observed]() in 2012 after physicists had speculated about its existence for decades. The FCC would use powerful rings of magnets to accelerate matter to mind-boggling speeds, then smash them into each other so that scientists could observe the collision. The goal, [according to *Gizmodo*]()*,* would be to study poorly understood phenomena such as dark matter. ## Lord of the Rings Not everybody is on board with the idea of building a huge new particle accelerator. "We have to draw a line somewhere otherwise we end up with a collider that is so large that it goes around the equator," former U.K. chief scientific advisor David King [told the *BBC*]() of the plans for the FCC. "And if it doesn't end there perhaps there will be a request for one that goes to the Moon and back." **READ MORE:** [CERN Unveils Design for 62-Mile-Round Atom Smasher More Powerful Than the Large Hadron Collider]() \[*Gizmodo*\] ***More on particle accelerators:*** [*The Large Hadron Collider Just Shut Down*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()