The largest singular experimental project in the world, the Large Hadron Collider, is so mind-bogglingly complex that even some of its more finite properties are only comprehended by the best physics geeks our planet has to offer. A massive, 17-mile loop underground with multiple screening processes and the contributions more than a hundred nations, it’s also unsurprising that the Large Hadron Collider has made the impossible possible. Now that it's closed for repairs and upgrades until 2015, we may be on the precipice of even more exciting future finds.

But how does it all happen, and what the heck does it look like? Mashable has broken down the magical scientific mysteries of the Large Hadron Collider to explain how it defies physics and creates new particles out of thin air. Be prepared to feel like a fancy physicist without any of the training.

What do you think of the Large Hadron Collider? Let us know in the comments.

Where Did it Come From?

The Large Hadron Collider, the fastest and largest particle accelerator on Earth, is the result of 10 whole years of construction, from 1998-2008, on the border between Switzerland and France by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The purpose of the facility is, as always, to test and discover the laws of physics — whether that be identifying new particles in space or reliably replicating others in a controlled environment. From these discoveries in the Large Hadron Collider, scientists are able to solidify knowledge of how physics works on Earth and in the far reaches of space.

There are many questions that the Large Hadron Collider is supposed to answer, and one of the biggest ones is the existence of the Higgs-Boson, or the “God Particle.” But the Large Hadron Collider is also designed to test the number of dimensions that actually exist, whether particles are intentionally symmetrical, and pinpoint the true nature of dark matter.

The 17-mile circle that makes up the Large Hadron Collider is actually broken down into many smaller detectors and systems, but the overall goal of each experiment is to speed particles up enough to create a series of byproducts when it all comes together.

What’s Inside of It?

The process of actually coordinating and speeding particle beams up fast enough to collide with each other at the right time is, by itself, a very difficult task filled with multiple steps. The Large Hadron Collider is made up of two particle beam pipes that intersect at four separate points, with more than 1,200 dipole magnets to keep the particle beam on track and nearly 400 quadrupole magnets to keep each beam focused. Those 1,600 magnets are submerged in nearly 100 tons of cryogenic helium liquid to keep them at peak operating form.

And all of that is in place just to create a safe place for particles to travel.

The real information gathering comes from the Large Hadron Collider’ detectors, each searching for different kinds of particle byproducts. The system has two general purpose detectors, two more specified technologies and two highly specialized monitors — and all of them scan once a particle collision occurs. One of the Large Hadron Collider’s general detectors, the 88-foot large ATLAS, scans for new signs of physics matter and is one machine involved in the first discovery of the Higgs-Boson. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment is the second general detector, is also involved in the Higgs-Boson and continues to search for signs of dark matter.

After those two, detectors become much more specific. One notable one is A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE), which is a specialized detector that mostly looks for quark-gluon plasma or “quark soup” — matter once thought to be instrumental in the Big Bang that is no longer found. Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) is another interesting detector that searches for matter’s symmetrical anti-matter form — a key point in understanding (and proving) the Poincare system of supersymmetry in nature.

All of these experiments are at the forefront of understanding physics, and cannot be run without the Large Hadron Collider.

How Does it Work?

There are a lot of systems involved with the Large Hadron Collider, and in practice they must be performed perfectly or catastrophic scenarios can occur. In 2008, for example, a faulty connection in two magnets led to six tons of helium coolant vented into the tunnel, exploding with force and taking out 50 superconductor magnets in the process and contaminating the vaccuum used to direct the beam. The result was a year’s worth of repairs — all from a single faulty connection.

Since the incident, the Large Hadron Collider has run at full power, as high as a staggering 7 TeV for proton particles — the most energy ever generated in a particle accelerator. In order to go that fast, proton particles are energized before entering the accelerator through a series of systems before entering the accelerator at 450 GeV (essentially 450 units of a billion electron volts). All of the particles are bundled together and accelerated through the magnets in the tube for a period of 20 minutes to reach their peak velocity. Then, for a period of up to a day, the beams continue traveling around and intersecting at each of the four points. Detectors check the matter for new properties over this time, and data is recorded. Lead nuclei are also run through the Large Hadron Collider, although at a much slower pace of 2.76 TeV per nucleon.

Now, the Large Hadron Collider is shutting down to upgrade systems with the possibility of reaching collisions as fast as 14 TeV — a promising venture that could lead to better discoveries of the Higgs-Boson and other elusive particles. So we wait until 2015 for the Large Hadron Collider to surprise us again.

Homepage image courtesy of The Large Hadron Collider/ATLAS at CERN