Definition of particle accelerator in US English:
particle accelerator
nounˈpärdəkəl əkˈseləˌrādər
An apparatus for accelerating subatomic particles to high velocities by means of electric or electromagnetic fields. The accelerated particles are generally made to collide with other particles, either as a research technique or for the generation of high-energy X-rays and gamma rays.
Example sentencesExamples
- They also improved the equipment used to detect these elements, and in 1939 scientists first used a cyclotron particle accelerator as a mass spectrometer.
- In 1983, this theory was confirmed by the direct observation of the heavy gauge bosons in the powerful particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva.
- While at Brookhaven, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator for nuclear physics research, became operational.
- Scientists use an instrument known as a particle accelerator to accelerate particles to just below the speed of light and then smash them into other particles.
- In a cyclotron particle accelerator, researchers fired an isotope of calcium at a target of americium.