More than 97% of the world's particle accelerators are used for commercial purposes

The most common type of particle accelerator is a linear electron accelerator, which fires particles in a straight line, making them useful for the intense, targeted beams needed in cancer treatment.

Particle beams can be used to alter the surface properties of artificial joints

Surface hardening and embedding specific elements or coatings can improve the biocompatibility and bone tissue integration of these implants. Particle accelerators are significant sources of the radioisotopes needed in medical diagnostics, and microwave linear accelerators are used in the majority of cancer irradiation treatments.

Learn about five of the largest particle accelerators on Earth, which, as of 2026, are led by the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Before 1932, when particle accelerators were first used for nuclear research, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to advance their understanding of the atomic nucleus.

How radioactive isotopes are created and used for medical diagnostics

In particle accelerators, protons can be accelerated into other atoms to create radioactive isotopes, which can be attached to specific molecules to create radiotracers that are taken up by specific cells. Radiotracers can emit particles that produce light once they collide with an electron, and this light can be captured by a PET scanner to diagnose specific ailments.

Particle accelerators propel matter toward small targets at high speed

Devices like cathode-ray tube televisions were once basic particle accelerators, but modern ones, such as the Large Hadron Collider, use massive magnetic fields and circular tunnels to achieve energies high enough to recreate the conditions just after the big bang.

As of 2023, the world's smallest particle accelerator is smaller than a penny

The prototype is an example of a photonic accelerator, which utilizes tiny lasers to accelerate electrons rather than relying on oscillating electromagnetic fields to move them. It can deliver about 1 electron per second with energies equivalent to those found in cathode-ray tube televisions.

Particle accelerators detect subatomic particles using millions of sensors

Calorimeters measure the energy of particles. Tracking devices can measure momentum and charge from the trajectory of particles, which is determined by recording tiny electrical signals. Time-of-flight detectors provide particle velocities directly and particle mass indirectly, giving physicists a suite of properties to compare with those of known matter.

Although built from 1996 to 2008, the Large Hadron Collider relies on accelerators built starting in 1954 to help bring protons to 99.9999991% the speed of light—about 2.73 million football fields per second.

Learn about the applications of radioactivity in medical, academic, and industrial settings

Besides their use for radiometric dating by archaeologists and researchers at museums and universities, radioactive materials are used in sensors that help track ocean currents and analyze pollution, soil, and petroleum products. Radioisotope-based sensors also help measure air in ice cream and prevent spillovers when soda bottles are filled in factories.

If particle accelerators did create black holes by packing tremendous energy into a small volume, then trillions would be created in Earth's atmosphere daily by cosmic rays.

At CERN's Antimatter Factory, researchers create and guide antiprotons and antielectrons together to form antihydrogen, and all these antiparticles are analyzed to help scientists study the behavior of antimatter.

View the most expensive materials on Earth, led by antimatter and other elements forged in particle accelerators.

Particle accelerators have been used to reveal detailed ant anatomy

Using a synchrotron facility at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, a pair of X-ray beams swept across about 2,200 ant specimens to create over 200 terabytes of projection images from multiple angles. The images were compiled into micrometer-resolution 3D reconstructions of 792 species, which are freely accessible on the Antscan platform.

The first circular particle accelerator was narrower than the average cereal bowl

The 1939 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Ernest Lawrence for inventing the cyclotron. By comparison, the Large Hadron Collider is 5 miles in diameter and is the largest cryogenic system in the world, cooling its electromagnets to temperatures colder than those found in outer space.

At the Large Hadron Collider, protons are accelerated so close to the speed of light that they would lag behind a laser by just 10 feet after 14 minutes of travel.

A beam of neutrinos can be created by firing a beam of high-energy protons at a target to produce unstable particles that decay into neutrinos.

Explore the components of the linear particle accelerator at Los Alamos

Located at the site of bomb design and development for the Manhattan Project, LANSCE features an injector system for hydrogen ions, a series of tanks with alternating electric fields for proton acceleration, and an isotope production facility that creates radioisotopes for medical treatments.

Cyclotrons move particles in spiral paths of increasing radius

After particles are injected into the center of the device, an alternating electric field and a constant magnetic field energize the particles as they spiral outward toward a target. Cyclotrons are common in hospitals that perform molecular imaging, which relies on radioactive components that decay within hours.

It may be possible to create dark matter in particle accelerators

In high-energy collisions, exotic forms of matter can be produced by directly converting energy into mass according to *E = mc*². Even though a dark matter particle would not be directly observable, its creation would result in unaccounted-for mass, which can be compared to potential dark matter candidates for indirect detection.

Scientists can create movies of atomic and molecular phenomena using X-ray free-electron lasers, in which images are produced by matter being struck by high-intensity light created by accelerating electrons.

In an X-ray free-electron laser, electromagnetic fields are used to accelerate and move electrons in wiggling patterns, causing them to emit synchronized, high-energy X-rays. This resulting light beam can strike targets up to 120 times per second to create movies of changing molecular structures and phenomena.

Laser technology powers communication, medical and manufacturing tools

Lasers are used when scanning groceries, printing documents or undergoing cosmetic procedures to enhance efficiency, precision and accuracy. Missile defense, targeting and optical communication systems have made using laser technology habitual in the military.

Some cosmic rays possess energies as high as 100,000,000 teraelectron volts—more than 10 million times the energy of particles accelerated in the Large Hadron Collider.

PET scans create images of the body by detecting light emitted from the annihilation of matter and antimatter, with the latter produced by custom chemicals containing radioactive atoms.

Lasers, semiconductors, medical imaging, and atomic clocks rely on quantum mechanics

Semiconductors, crucial in electronics, operate based on quantum superposition. Lasers use stimulated emission, a quantum process, and MRI machines leverage the quantum spin of hydrogen atoms for imaging. Atomic clocks measure time with unprecedented precision using quantum transitions.

Through 2038, the Large Hadron Collider research program is expected to generate societal benefits of €25.6B, or €3.3B more than operating costs and investments.

Learn about the 'Goldilocks' of radioisotopes, which can help attack hard-to-treat cancers

Actinium-225 can be attached to a molecule that binds to cancer antigens, helping it target specific cancers in the body. It emits alpha particles that can damage DNA but do not penetrate deeply, confining the damage to nearby cancer cells. However, annual global production of actinium-225 is less than a grain of sand.

Antimatter was discovered by examining debris from collisions between atmospheric gases and cosmic rays—high-energy matter particles from space.

The Louvre in Paris has its own particle accelerator for art analysis

The Accélérateur Grand Louvre d'analyse élémentaire serves as a noninvasive tool for identifying and quantifying trace elements present in artworks by analyzing how particles backscatter off targets. This information can help detect forgeries and determine a piece's provenance. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

CERN—the European Organization for Nuclear Research—is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, with the Large Hadron Collider serving as its largest tool.

Antimatter particles possess the same mass and spin as their normal particle counterparts, but possess an opposite charge and transform into pure energy upon colliding with normal matter.

A particle accelerator allowed researchers to noninvasively examine a mummy

The mummy hailed from the Faiyum oasis, where Egyptian and Roman cultures intersected, and was analyzed using the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. The device used high-energy X-rays to probe the material composition of numerous objects embedded deep inside the mummy without damaging its remains.

If they could be built, antimatter drives, which run on energy released from the collision of matter and antimatter particles, would be the most efficient engines in existence.

View summaries of the most common types of radioactive decay and their associated particles

The alpha particle has the strongest ability to ionize other atoms it strikes, but it also does not travel very far before colliding with something and being absorbed. Gamma particles—high-energy photons—do not interact with matter as easily and therefore possess the greatest penetrating power, though this also makes their ionizing potential the smallest.

Depictions of antimatter in science fiction include misleading portrayals of it coming from parallel universes, being mined from asteroids, and serving as a workable laser beam.

A 36-year-old Russian physicist survived a particle accelerator beam to the head

Several safety mechanisms failed during Anatoli Bugorski's inspection of malfunctioning equipment at the U-70 synchrotron, the Soviet Union's largest particle accelerator. Despite receiving as much as 600 times the lethal dose of radiation to the brain, he has shown no intellectual damage and worked until the age of 77.

Each year, the Large Hadron Collider undergoes a winter shutdown—when electricity costs are highest—and bringing it back online requires weeks of tests, including some involving high-energy particles from outer space.

Methods for disposing of nuclear waste include melting it into a liquid to create glass, dumping it into graphite blocks, storing it in lead-lined rooms, and submerging it in deep pools of water.

Uranium's ability to split easily makes it the most common catalyst for nuclear power

Uranium is commonly found in rocks, water, and soil worldwide, but significant industrial processes are needed to process and enrich it for efficient reactor usage. After being irradiated in reactors, it must be cooled down before disposal.

Cathode-ray tube televisions are examples of electron accelerators

CRT TVs work by converting electricity into heat, which causes electrons to be emitted from the rear of the device in three beams responsible for the colors red, green, and blue. Electromagnets direct electrons to phosphor molecules on the screen, which emit light and illuminate the pixels.

Learn about ionizing radiation and see the most radioactive places on Earth

The average person is exposed to radiation every day, though most of it is either harmless non-ionizing radiation or ionizing radiation at doses too small to significantly affect an individual. The highest doses of ionizing radiation are received by smokers due to the radioactive polonium and radioactive lead in tobacco products.

In 2026, researchers successfully transported antimatter in a truck using a portable trap that employed electromagnetic fields to hold 92 antiprotons.

After photons—particles of light—neutrinos are the most abundant particles in the universe.

Cosmic rays are evidence of incredibly powerful astronomical events—solar cosmic rays provide information about eruptions and flares on the sun's surface, while galactic cosmic rays shed light on dying stars.

Particle interactions follow rules related to specific quantum properties

Like a business whose purchased inventory matches sold inventory, physicists identified specific patterns across decades of particle accelerator data, which became new conservation laws for elementary particles. These laws help identify which particle decays are expected or forbidden.

The High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider will provide a tenfold increase in particle collisions compared with the initial LHC infrastructure by increasing the number of ions in collision bundles and by concentrating the ion beams.

Antimatter's rarity across the cosmos is one of the biggest problems in modern physics because the high-energy environment of the early universe should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter.

Roughly 80% of US antibiotics sold each year go to agricultural use

Antibiotics have long been used in agriculture to treat diseases in animals and plants. However, antibiotics are also often misused, to treat non-bacterial diseases, to encourage growth in animals, and more. This expansive use of antibiotics has become one of the primary sources of the emergence of new superbugs.

Turning nuclear waste into cancer medications

This video explores Terrapower, a company transforming nuclear waste into lifesaving cancer treatments. This is accomplished through the production and use of Actinium 225, a rare isotope derived from thorium, which is used in targeted alpha therapy to treat cancer.

On average, the Large Hadron Collider uses 1.3 terawatt-hours of electricity annually—equivalent to about 124,000 US homes—generated by a French substation.