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Why is JLab Unique?

The lab gives scientists a unique and unprecedented probe to study quarks, the particles that make up protons and neutrons in the atom's nucleus. The accelerator delivers a continuous beam to a target, like hydrogen, carbon, gold or lead. When the beam collides with its target, particles scatter. By studying the speed, direction and energy of the scattered particles scientists will learn more about how the nucleus is put together.

Did You Know?

  1. JLab's is thought of as the world's most powerful microscope for studying the nucleus of the atom.
  2. If JLab weren't superconducting it would require three times as much power to operate and performance would be greatly reduced.
  3. The tunnel is built 25 feet below the earth's surface on the "Yorktown Formation" - an old sea bed. The walls of the tunnel are 2 feet thick.
  4. Approximately 25,000 cubic yards of concrete were used to build the tunnel - the equivalent of 12 miles of concrete trucks lined up end to end.
  5. JLab's accelerator tunnel has more than 2,200 magnets in 58 varieties. They range in size from a few inches to two yards and weigh as much as 5 tons.
  6. The accelerator is controlled and monitored by over 100 computers in the Machine Control Center, service buildings, and tunnel that track, manage, and respond to the more than 240,000 simultaneous signals and 40,000 hardware control points.
  7. A billion times per second, JLab focuses a million electrons into a beam the width of a human hair.
  8. Do you know what to do with an electron beam? See what Jefferson Lab does.
  9. JLab's electron beam travels around the 7/8-mile tunnel five times in 24 millionths of a second. At that speed, the electron beam could circle the earth 7-1/2 times in one second. (Full 1.4M mpeg)
  10. The mass of an object increases as its speed increases. At nearly the speed of light, the electrons in the CEBAF beam increase in mass 7,916 times.
  11. Approximately 650 people are employed at JLab.
  12. Over 1,200 scientists from around the world use the facility to conduct experiments.
  13. Unsure about a word we used on the website? Check this vocabulary list.