Apparently, forces of nature and supernature do not like the collider:
“The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, just cannot catch a break. First, a coolant leak destroyed some of the magnets that guide the energy beam. Then LHC officials postponed the restart of the machine to add additional safety features. Now, a bird dropping a piece of bread on a section of the accelerator has, according to the Register, shut down the whole operation.
The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic failsafes would have shut down the machine.”
Really.
>
See also:
The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate
Source:
Baguette Dropped From Bird’s Beak Shuts Down The Large Hadron Collider (Really)
Stuart Fox
PopSci 11.05.2009
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-11/bread-loving-bird-shuts-down-lhc
What's been said:
Discussions found on the web: