Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator, which investigates particle physics by creating particle interactions with high energy. Higher energy, much of which is the kinetic energy of accelerated particles, produces interactions that result in rare particles and particle-states for brief periods, allowing sensors to gather data on the particles and interactions. The higher the energy, the more detail can be gathered, and the LHC is a very ambitious such experimental-setup that produces interactions with significantly higher energy than any other existing or past accelerator by at least a factor of ten. It is built in an underground circular tunnel 27 km in length, located near Geneva, Switzerland, and spanning the boundary between Switzerland and France. It began operation in 2010, with a major goal being confirmation and observation of the Higgs boson, which it accomplished in 2012.