ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Large Hadron Collider

Okay kiddo, let's talk about the Large Hadron Collider, or the LHC for short. The LHC is a really big machine that helps scientists study tiny things that we can't see with our eyes, called particles.

The LHC is like a big, circular racetrack that is 27 kilometers long. Inside the racetrack, there are two pipes that have tiny particles called protons zooming around in opposite directions. The protons go really fast, almost as fast as the speed of light!

When the protons go around the racetrack, they run into each other, and that creates a big explosion of energy. Scientists use really big machines called detectors to see what happens during the explosion. They watch how the particles fly around after the explosion and try to figure out what kinds of particles they are.

Scientists hope to learn all kinds of cool things from studying these particles, like what the universe is made of and how it all came to be. They also hope to make new discoveries that could help us make better technology in the future!