The LHC will employ the use of 1,232 dipole magnets, which are cooled to superconducting temperatures by liquid helium at 2 Kelvin and will provide magnetic fields as strong as 8.33 Tesla.  As one might imagine, these puppies are valuable.  To string two of them together, without interrupting the circuits through which currents as high as 11,850 Amps will flow, requires a highly sophisticated splice mechanism which must have a resistance of less than 0.000080 Ω for the machine to work properly.

Otherwise, this happens.

Of course, since CERN decided to display these magnificent beasts prominently (including one proudly and boldly showcased on the otherwise beautiful green lawn outside CERN’s Restaurant 1), they had to find a way to protect their valuable end-connections.  These are the blag end-plugs you see in this photo of the lawn dipole.

Well, I suppose CERN had a spare endcap.  I would never have been creative enough to devise this plan for its fate.

Another magnet cover-gone-planter.

It really ties the room together.

(hearty laughter)

That’s really cool except I imagine the lines for that are long, because they can’t run… two

Two of them! Yeeah, that’s true, the lines are a little bit longer I think, but they go really fast.
Unfortunately I guess that means you know the ride…

ride is fast

ride is fast, yeeah.
But it’s definitely worth doing once or twice.
There’s … There’s Runaway Mountain, which I assume is… everywhere; like that’s the rollercoaster in the dark.

OK.

That’s a lot of fun

Um … there’s….. ahh, there’s Flashback, which is the first one I ever went on that… that goes upside down

OK.

The Shockwave is a bigger one that goes upside down.
Oh and the… the Titan! That is… so that’s supposedly the world’s biggest rollercoaster, yup.
And I assume that; I assume it’s the same one that you went on, like just a diferent edition of it

Yeah.

the same, the same struct… That was spec-tac-u-lar. There’s, There’s one part in it, I’ve ridden in it a few times.There’s one part where you go like, under this thing. On like, So it, it takes you like around on the side a couple times…?

OK. yeah, I don’t, I don’t remember enough details but I…

Oh OK. And it sort of goes and plunges down, and … and there’s like a, you go under an awn… like a little awning. And … you know, I’ve got my hands up, I always kinda shah-ha-hake bah-hack (laughter while speaking) down, cause I’m like, that really looks like I’m about to hit tha-ha-ha-ha-hah! (laughter)

Well they’ve designed it, You know. They’ve designed it to do this…

There’s like, I mean… I don’t think, I don’t think Dikembe Mutombo could touch that thing if he tri-ha-ha-ha-hied

Yeah.

(hearty laughter)

John Bradley of course would lose his hands

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (very enthusiastic laughter), ri-ha-ha-ha-hight

Yeah.

Like in the West Wing?

Yes.

When the president always ducks every time he gets into a helicopter?

Yup.

He’s like: You don’t think those blades could chop off your head? I don’t think those blades could chop off Dikembe Mutombo’s head!

heheheheheheh

Yeah.

…some moments of silence…

Well thanks for coming out

OK.

hurtling water bottle

… with a water bottle. A plastic water bottle, full, possibly unopened. On the green lawn in the evening, outside the patio of R1,

CERN’s pre-eminent cafeteria. Three summer students, with earnest demeanor, spent their evening hours dramatically cocking back their throwing arms as if pitching baseballs, and throwing a water bottle to each other, 50 meters apart, back and forth.

Not laughing. Not joking. Just throwing and catching. As professional athletes do.

where it happened

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Catch this plastic water bottle, intercept its hard corners. Touch its pregnant belly so full of water, as it hurtles towards your face. It is not a baseball; it is a water bottle.

Dan Brown, you know nothing of CERN. We don’t need frisbees; we have water bottles.