Eli5: What advancements have been made as a direct result of the use of particle accelerators?

Question

I recently saw a Cleo Abrams video about particle accelerators and the lead scientist said that they use particle accelerators to create the building blocks for future innovations.

I’m sure advancements have been made only because particle accelerators exist but I don’t know any. Can someone highlight a direct influence particle accelerators have on our daily lives?

In: Physics

Answer 1

I can’t say definitively that particle accelerators are DIRECTLY responsible for this. But one thing that particle accelerators have been used for is observing Quantum Tunneling, and Quantum Tunneling has wound up being really important in electronics. For example, modern Solid State Drives / Flash Drives leverage Quantum Tunneling to work. It’s probably fair to say that you wouldn’t be able to have a working Solid State Drive as your main OS Drive in your PC without understanding Quantum Tunneling.