In this section we present some simple calculations in order to compare LHC energy with some more familiar situations. In the section Relativity  a more detailed discussion about the energy in a collider (like LHC) can be found in relativistic terms.

 How much energy are we talking about?

It doesn´t look like a lot of energy

For the ALICE experiment, each ion of Pb-208 reaches 1150/2 = 575 TeV.

So, the energy per nucleon is: 575/208 = 2,76 TeV

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Let´s calculate the kinetic energy of an insect of 60 mg flying at 20 cm/s:

E_k = ½ m·v²  ⇒   E_k = ½ 6·10^-5·0,2 ²  ~ 7 TeV

That  is, in LHC each proton will reach an energy similar to that of an annoying ... MOSQUITO!

            

But we have to keep in mind that this mosquito has 36 thousand trillion nucleons, whereas the 7 TeV in the LHC will be concentrate in one sole proton.

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Maybe this comparison is not very convincing so let´s look at it from another point of view. Let´s calculate the energy present in each bunch: 7 TeV/protón·1,15·1011 protons/bunch ~1,29·105 J/bunch A powerful motorbike 150 kg travelling at 150 km/h_ Ek = ½ ·150 · 41,72 ~ 1,29·105 J

So if a bunch of protons collides with you the impact is similar to that produced by a powerful motorbike travelling at 150 km/h.

 (Naturally, as the number of protons/bunch increases, as happens after long shutdown, LS, this stored energy in the beam increases).

The Heat of Fusion of Gold is ΔH_F = 63,71 kJ/kg and the Molar Heat Capacity is 25,42 J/mol·K

So, 360 MJ are enough to take 1500 kg of Gold from 25ºC to total fusion  ⇒  1,5 Tonnes of Gold.

Obviously such an amount of energy can not be supplied instantly. In fact the process lasts over 20 min through a chain of different accelerators.