ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Brian Cox - Physicist
Physicist Brian Cox has two jobs: working with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and explaining big science to the general public. He's a professor at the University of Manchester.

Why you should listen

Based at the University of Manchester, Brian Cox works at CERN in Geneva on the ATLAS experiment, studying the forward proton detectors for the Large Hadron Collider there. He's a professor at the University of Manchester, working in the High Energy Physics group, and is a research fellow of the Royal Society.

He's also become a vital voice in the UK media for explaining physics to the public. With his rockstar hair and accessible charm, he's the go-to physicist for explaining heady concepts on British TV and radio. (If you're in the UK, watch him on The Big Bang Machine.) He was the science advisor for the 2007 film Sunshine. He answers science questions every Friday on BBC6 radio's Breakfast Show.

More profile about the speaker
Brian Cox | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Brian Cox: What went wrong at the LHC

Brian Cox: O que saiu errado com o LHC

Filmed:
1,425,948 views

Nesta breve conversa no TED U 2009, Brian Cox compartilha o que há de novo no supercolisor do CERN. Ele abrange os consertos que estão sendo realizados e o que o futuro guarda para o maior experimento científico jamais tentado.
- Physicist
Physicist Brian Cox has two jobs: working with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and explaining big science to the general public. He's a professor at the University of Manchester. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Last year at TED I gave an introduction to the LHC.
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Ano passado no TED eu fiz uma introdução ao LHC.
00:16
And I promised to come back and give you an update
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E prometi voltar e dar-lhes uma atualização
00:18
on how that machine worked.
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sobre o funcionamento desta máquina.
00:20
So this is it. And for those of you that weren't there,
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Então é isto. E para aqueles que não estavam lá,
00:22
the LHC is the largest scientific experiment ever attempted --
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o LHC é o maior experimento científico jamais tentado -
00:25
27 kilometers in circumference.
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27 quilômetros de circunferência.
00:27
Its job is to recreate the conditions
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Sua função é recriar as condições
00:29
that were present less than a billionth of a second after the universe began,
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existentes há menos de um bilionésimo de segundo após o começo do universo
00:32
up to 600 million times a second.
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até 600 milhões de vezes por segundo.
00:35
It's nothing if not ambitious.
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É nada menos do que ambicioso.
00:37
This is the machine below Geneva.
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Esta é a máquina debaixo de Genebra.
00:39
We take the pictures of those mini-Big Bangs inside detectors.
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Tiramos fotos destes mini Big Bangs dentro dos detectores.
00:42
This is the one I work on. It's called the ATLAS detector --
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É neste aqui que eu trabalho. É chamado detector ATLAS --
00:45
44 meters wide, 22 meters in diameter.
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44 metros de largura, 22 metros de diâmetro.
00:48
Spectacular picture here of ATLAS under construction
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Fotos espetaculares do ATLAS em construção
00:51
so you can see the scale.
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para que se possa ver a escala.
00:53
On the 10th of September last year we turned the machine on for the first time.
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Em 10 de setembro do ano passado, ligamos a máquina pela primeira vez.
00:56
And this picture was taken by ATLAS.
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E esta foto foi tirada pelo ATLAS.
00:59
It caused immense celebration in the control room.
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Causou uma grande comemoração na sala de controle.
01:02
It's a picture of the first beam particle
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É a foto da primeira partícula reluzente
01:04
going all the way around the LHC,
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circulando todo o LHC,
01:06
colliding with a piece of the LHC deliberately,
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colidindo com um pedaço do LHC propositadamente,
01:09
and showering particles into the detector.
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e emitindo partículas dentro do detector.
01:11
In other words, when we saw that picture on September 10th
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Em outras palavras, quando vimos aquela foto no dia 10 de setembro
01:13
we knew the machine worked,
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soubemos que a máquina funcionou,
01:15
which is a great triumph.
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o que é um grande triumfo.
01:17
I don't know whether this got the biggest cheer,
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Eu não sei se isto conseguiu a maior aclamação
01:19
or this, when someone went onto Google
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ou isto, quando alguém entrou no Google
01:21
and saw the front page was like that.
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e viu que a página inicial estava assim.
01:23
It means we made cultural impact
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Isto significa que produzimos um impacto cultural
01:25
as well as scientific impact.
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bem como um impacto científico.
01:27
About a week later we had a problem with the machine,
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Cerca de uma semana depois tivemos um problema com a máquina,
01:30
related actually to these bits of wire here -- these gold wires.
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relacionado com estes pedaços de fio aqui - estes fios dourados.
01:34
Those wires carry 13 thousand amps
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Estes fios conduzem 13 mil ampéres
01:37
when the machine is working in full power.
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quando a máquina está funcionando na potência máxima.
01:39
Now the engineers amongst you will look at them and say,
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Agora os engenheiros na platéia olharão e dirão,
01:41
"No they don't. They're small wires."
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"Não, isso não. Estes fios são pequenos."®
01:43
They can do that because
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Estes fios podem fazer isto porque,
01:45
when they are very cold they are what's called superconducting wire.
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quando bem gelados, passam a ser chamados supercondutores.
01:47
So at minus 271 degrees,
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Então, a 271 graus negativos,
01:50
colder than the space between the stars,
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mais frio que o espaço entre as estrelas,
01:52
those wires can take that current.
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estes fios podem suportar esta corrente.
01:54
In one of the joints between over 9,000 magnets in LHC,
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Em uma das conexões entre os 9.000 magnetos no LHC,
01:58
there was a manufacturing defect.
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havia um defeito de fabricação.
02:00
So the wire heated up slightly,
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Então, o fio aqueceu levemente
02:02
and its 13,000 amps suddenly encountered electrical resistance.
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e os 13.000 ampéres repentinamente encontraram resistência elétrica.
02:06
This was the result.
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Este foi o resultado.
02:08
Now that's more impressive
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Agora, o que mais impressiona
02:11
when you consider those magnets weigh over 20 tons,
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quando se considera que estes magnetos pesam mais de 20 toneladas,
02:13
and they moved about a foot.
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é que eles se moveram cerca de 33 cm.
02:15
So we damaged about 50 of the magnets.
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Assim, danificamos cerca de 50 dos magnetos.
02:18
We had to take them out, which we did.
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Tivemos que retirá-los, o que foi feito.
02:21
We reconditioned them all, fixed them.
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Recondicionamos todos e reinstalamos.
02:23
They're all on their way back underground now.
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Estão, agora, em seus devidos lugares no subsolo.
02:25
By the end of March the LHC will be intact again.
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Ao final de março, o LHC estará intacto novamente.
02:27
We will switch it on,
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Nós o ligaremos,
02:29
and we expect to take data in June or July,
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e esperamos coletar os dados em junho ou julho,
02:32
and continue with our quest to find out
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e continuaremos nossa busca por descobrir
02:35
what the building blocks of the universe are.
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quais são os blocos de construção de que o universo é feito.
02:37
Now of course, in a way
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Agora é claro, que de algum modo
02:40
those accidents reignite the debate
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estes acidentes reacenderam o debate
02:42
about the value of science and engineering at the edge. It's easy to refute.
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sobre o valor da ciência e da egenharia de ponta. É fácil de rebater.
02:48
I think that the fact that it's so difficult,
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Acho que o fato de ser tão difícil,
02:50
the fact that we're overreaching, is the value of things like the LHC.
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o fato de estarmos suplantndo, é que faz o valor de coisas como o LHC.
02:54
I will leave the final word to an English scientist, Humphrey Davy,
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Eu deixo a palavra final ao cientista inglês, Humphrey Davy,
02:58
who, I suspect,
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quem, eu desconfio,
03:00
when defending his protege's useless experiments --
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quando estava defendendo os experimentos inúteis de seu protegido,
03:03
his protege was Michael Faraday --
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seu protegido era Michael Faraday
03:05
said this, "Nothing is so dangerous
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disse assim: "Nada é tão perigoso
03:08
to the progress of the human mind
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ao progresso da mente humana
03:10
than to assume that our views of science are ultimate,
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quanto assumir que nossas visões da ciência são derradeiras,
03:14
that there are no mysteries in nature,
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que não existem mais mistérios na natureza,
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that our triumphs are complete, and that
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que nossos triunfos são completos, e que
03:18
there are no new worlds to conquer."
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não existem novos mundos a conquistar."
03:20
Thank you.
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Obrigado.
03:22
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Marcos Beraldo
Reviewed by Joao Eurico Aguiar Lima

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Brian Cox - Physicist
Physicist Brian Cox has two jobs: working with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and explaining big science to the general public. He's a professor at the University of Manchester.

Why you should listen

Based at the University of Manchester, Brian Cox works at CERN in Geneva on the ATLAS experiment, studying the forward proton detectors for the Large Hadron Collider there. He's a professor at the University of Manchester, working in the High Energy Physics group, and is a research fellow of the Royal Society.

He's also become a vital voice in the UK media for explaining physics to the public. With his rockstar hair and accessible charm, he's the go-to physicist for explaining heady concepts on British TV and radio. (If you're in the UK, watch him on The Big Bang Machine.) He was the science advisor for the 2007 film Sunshine. He answers science questions every Friday on BBC6 radio's Breakfast Show.

More profile about the speaker
Brian Cox | Speaker | TED.com