How do particle accelerators work?

Question

I was just curious, thanks! I always wondered how you get an electron up to light speed using mechanical devices :P.

Oh, sorry I wasn't thinking. I don't know why I said mechanical :P. Thanks for your answers so far by the way!

Answer 1

click here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_accelerator

Answer 2

Actually, we do not use mechanical devices. We use magnetic devices. CERN operates a network of six accelerators and a decelerator. Each machine in the chain increases the energy of particle beams before delivering them to experiments or to the next more powerful accelerator. Currently active machines are:

Two linear accelerators generating low energy particles for injection into the Proton Synchrotron. One is for protons and the other for heavy ions. These are known as Linac2 and Linac3 respectively.
The PS Booster, which increases the energy of particles generated by the linear accelerators before they are transferred to the other accelerators.
The 28 GeV Proton Synchrotron (PS) built 1959 and still operating as a feeder to the more powerful SPS.
The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), a circular accelerator with a diameter of 2 kilometres built in a tunnel, which started operation in 1976. It was designed to deliver an energy of 300 GeV and was gradually upgraded to 450 GeV. As well as having its own beamlines for fixed-target experiments, it has been operated as a proton-antiproton collider, and for accelerating high energy electrons and positrons which were injected into the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP). From 2007 onwards, it will inject protons and heavy ions into the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The On-Line Isotope Mass Separator (ISOLDE), which is used to study unstable nuclei. Particles are initially accelerated in the PS Booster before entering ISOLDE. It was first commissioned in 1967 and was rebuilt with major upgrades in 1974 and 1992.
The Antiproton Decelerator (AD), which reduces the velocity of antiprotons to about 10% the speed of light for research into antimatter.
Since August 2006, the proton beam of the SPS is producing a muon-neutrino beam, directed to the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 730km away, for studies of neutrino oscillations: the CERN neutrinos to Gran Sasso.

Answer 3

A pariticle accelerator usually works by accelerating charged paricles in either an electric or magnetic field.

A good basic explanation of how they work can be found on CERN's website. CERN is one of the largest particle accelerators in the world.

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Content/Chapters/AboutCERN/HowStudyPrtcles/HowAccelWork/HowAccelWork-en.html