Periodic table

07/01/09

Look at the periodic table of elements, and youd be hard pressed to find an element that is not used in physics. But what are the most important elements for building accelerators, detecting particles, and solving the mysteries of the universe? The search for answers takes us on a winding journey that includes ancient shipwrecks, trendy earrings, and the sound of dark matter. symmetry intern Kristine Crane asks Fermilab physicists about the elements they could not live without.

Deconstruction: Periodic table

Look at the periodic table of elements, and youd be hard pressed to find an element that is not used in physics. But what are the most important elements for building accelerators, detecting particles, and solving the mysteries of the universe? The search for answers takes us on a winding journey that includes ancient shipwrecks, trendy earrings, and the sound of dark matter. symmetry intern Kristine Crane asks Fermilab physicists about the elements they could not live without.

Left to right: superconducting cavities made of niobium; germanium crystal of the CDMS experiment; ATLAS silicon detector.
Photos: Fermilab, CERN

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