Electromagnets and Particle Accelerators
Particle accelerators are essentially vacuum tubes that use electromagnets to accelerate charged particles like protons and electrons to very high speeds in order to study them, or to observe new particles by colliding multiple particles. 
The particle accelerator uses electromagnets in two major ways. The electromagnets can change the orientation of their magnetic fields, and this ability lets the machine attract or repel certain particles based on what side of the field the particle is facing. The influence of many of these electromagnets along the tunnel is what accelerates these particles. The other important use of electromagnets is steering the particles. The particles are so small and are moving so fast that very precise magnetic inputs are needed to direct the particles. Since electricity can be applied to an electromagnet quickly and accurately, the accelerator is able to hit very small targets with particles.
The largest particle accelerator in the world is the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and France and is a 17 mile long circular track. It is underground in a protective concrete tunnel. The accelerator can move particles at nearly the speed of light, moving around the track 11,245 times per second and using 11,080 amperes of electricity to create magnetic fields up to up to 8.3 teslas in strength. One of the most famous experiments in this collider was the observation of the Higgs Boson particle, which gives matter the quality of mass.
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