monkey skipper said:
If I were allowed to have one science thing re-gifted to me…I think I would enjoy playing with the LHC if Santa decided I should indeed be given a hadron Collider for Christmas. I think one of the rover robots for doing sample collecting and general over road traveling via a remote control planets away seems rather cool as well.
Nice, though I’d prefer a rover version with sample return, the Russians managed remote sample return from the Moon with minimal difficulty. And the rover would have to come with a built in seismograph.
I think I’d have trouble playing with an LHC. Analysing individual events would be fun, but collecting enough together to confirm a Higgs would be more of a slog. I’d prefer a smaller machine such as a DIY cyclotron or an LEP. http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/august-2010/the-do-it-yourself-cyclotron The reason, firstly because a cyclotron can be used to make isotopes. Secondly, because many of the lighter subatomic particles produced by the LEP remain unstudied. Did you see my AAHA Australian amateur hadron accelerator?
