In spite of last minute attempts to stop its activation, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the highest-energy particle accelerator in the world is set to be fired up for the first time on September 10. Built at the border between Switzerland and France, this gargantuan machine, with a circumference of 27 kilometers, which has been in development since the early 1980s, is finally ready to rumble, much to the joy of over 8000 physicists form 85 countries plus staff that have worked together to make the device a reality.

But what does it do precisely? The machine, built between 50 and 175 meters underground, uses a series of magnetic accelerators to take beams of protons to up to 7 teraelectronvolts (TeV) and collide them together, at which point six particle detectors will measure and log what happens.

All this is for the purpose of testing out the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the generally accepted model in modern physics today, and to prove if possible, the existence of its one “missing link”: the Higgs Boson. This theoretical particle was proposed in 1964 by Scottish physicist Peter Higgs to explain what gives subatomic particles mass. The model has not yet been directly observed though, only indirectly hinted at by experimental results.

Thus, one of the main goals of the LHC is to create the conditions in which the Higgs Boson would appear conditions similar to the ones present at the very beginnings of the Universe, according to the Big Bang model. Incidentally, this is what has earned the Higgs Boson’s unofficial moniker, “the God particle."

Several groups of concerned individuals have pursued legal action against CERN, the European side of the project, as well as its U.S. associates in order to stop the accelerator from being put into operation for fear that it could create a black hole capable of engulfing the earth. This state of apprehension has been sustained by the media, although CERN scientists state that there is no conceivable way that the LHC could produce a black hole at all, much less a stable one (e.g. one that would not fall apart in moments, and therefore be harmless).

The project is nearing completion despite setbacks, and September 10 is the date for the LHC’s first, low-energy test fire; a full, high-energy collision is scheduled for the LHC’s official inauguration, set for October 21, this year.