In Particle Colliders wouldnt they have to worry about nuclear fission?

[cameron marical]

Wouldnt smashing particles into atoms instigate nuclear fission?

 

Obviously not, AFAIK no particle colliders have gone a-bomb, so evidently im wrong or there is something they do to prevent it.

 

Any help?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

They do split particles apart, yes, but there's no large lump of plutonium sitting there to facilitate any chain reaction. For an explosion to occur you have to have a critical mass of plutonium or uranium.

 

"Critical mass" meaning one big enough that when an atom inside splits, it can cause other atoms inside to split as well, starting the chain reaction. (When the lump of uranium is too small the pieces might just fly out.) A particle collider would not have a critical mass.

[cameron marical]

But energy is dispersed from the atom when the atom gets smashed by the partice?

 

How much? Can it damage the machine itself or is it such a small amount of energy that it just doesnt matter?

 

Thanks for the reply.

[swansont]

Because the densities are so low, the amount of energy released is comparable to the amount you have already. I've been witness to an accelerator hitting Thorium with protons (we were looking for Francium). Not a big deal, but the nuclear bomb test detection facility located nearby asked us what was going on, and guessed what target we were using.