Large Hadron Collider Not Yet A Smashing Success

September 20, 2008 7:00 p.m. EST

Geneva, Switzerland (AHN) - The world's largest atom smasher -- the Large Hadron Collider -- has gone from boom to bust, for two months anyway, as it will be shut down to undergo necessary repairs.

The collider, that cost several billion dollars and took longer than two decades to create, must be warmed up to absolute zero in order for repairs to be made.

The Hadron Collider will then be rechilled in hopes of preparing it for a future launch.

The collider is cuurently burrowed in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) circular tunnel located under the Swiss-French border where nuclear scientists are examining its damage.

The operation was shut down just 1 1/2 days after its September 10 startup, as an electrical transformer reportedly malfunctioned.

The collider is undergoing more inspections, however, as it troubles may run deeper.

The scientific community is excited about the Hadron Collider, to put it mildly.

If it performs capably, the collider could bring to light significant information on scientific matter and even help with queries pertaining to time and space.