Background
Particle colliders are a type of a particle accelerator used by physicists as a research tool to understand fundamental aspects of the universe. Their operation involves directed beams of particles accelerated to very high kinetic energy and allowed to collide; analysis of the byproducts of these collisions gives scientists good evidence of the structure of the subatomic world and the laws of nature governing it. These may become apparent only at high energies and for tiny periods of time, and therefore may be hard or impossible to study in other ways.
Because of the high energy levels involved, concerns have arisen at times in the public arena as to whether such collisions are safe, or whether they might, by reason of their extreme energy, trigger unforeseen problems or consequences.
Read more about this topic: Safety Of Particle Collisions At The Large Hadron Collider
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