History Main / MagicalParticleAccelerator

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold: In "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman", the villain of the week hijakcs a super-collider to empower his minions with immortality, and it makes a snazy improvised death-trap for meddling heroes. He crows that it's an enjoyable aspect of modern science any immortal caveman can get behind.

The newest PhlebotinumDuJour -- nuclear power for [[TurnOfTheMillennium The Noughties]]/TheNewTens/''Whatever The Hell This Decade Is Called''. Presumably thanks to the massive publicity surrounding the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider Large Hadron Collider]] (LHC), particle accelerators have become the latest science thingy that can do anything. Note that this usually involves [[LaserHallway visible beams]] and massive tunnels that people can stand next to or even ''inside'' without suffering unpleasantness such as [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace suffocation]], [[ExplosiveDecompression freezing, boiling]], electrocution or dying of radiation poisoning shortly after.

* The plot of Volume 19 of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' kicks off when terrorists steal the controls to a gigantic particle accelerator hidden underneath Academy City and threaten to use it to blow up a huge chunk of the city if their demands are not met.

* This type of device is used in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Soft Light", giving a guy a literal killer shadow.

* An experiment with a particle accelerator kicks off the action in Creator/BrianKeene's ''TheRising''. Somehow it opens an inter dimensional rift, allowing demons to come through and occupy the bodies of the dead, leading to a global zombie apocalypse.

* An experiment with a particle accelerator kicks off the action in Creator/BrianKeene's ''Literature/TheRising''. Somehow it opens an inter dimensional rift, allowing demons to come through and occupy the bodies of the dead, leading to a global zombie apocalypse.

* Writing in "LHC" (or [[ForScience "SCIENCE"]]) in ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'' is one of several ways of [[KillEmAll killing everyone on the screen. Including yourself]].

The newest PhlebotinumDuJour -- ILoveNuclearPower for [[TurnOfTheMillennium The Noughties]]/TheNewTens/''Whatever The Hell This Decade Is Called''. Presumably thanks to the massive publicity surrounding the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider Large Hadron Collider]] (LHC), particle accelerators have become the latest science thingy that can do anything. Note that this usually involves [[LaserHallway visible beams]] and massive tunnels that people can stand next to or even ''inside'' without suffering unpleasantness such as [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace suffocation]], [[ExplosiveDecompression freezing, boiling]], electrocution or dying of radiation poisoning shortly after.

* The first Comicbook/New52 ''Comicbook/DectectiveComics'' storyline featured a Wayne Enterprises scientist named Hugh Marder who'd built an exact duplicate of the LHC, which he uses to create clones of himself in an attempt to cure his genetic disorder. One of the clones became a Dr Phospherus type called Mr Toxic. Also, the exact duplicate of the LHC fits in Marder's office in the middle of Wayne Tower, and Lucius Fox thinks the purpose of the LHC is "to create a black hole".

** {{Parodied|Trope}} in the first game, where the Allies have a [[FantasticNuke particle accelerator]] as their Superweapon. They use it as a giant gun, but considering some of the [[FreezeRay other]] [[ShrinkRay weapons]] in [[SovietSuperscience the]] [[HumongousMecha setting]], it's obviously a subtle crack at the LHC debacle.

* "Saturn Ring" system in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' was an accelerator on the scale of RealLife colliders. It was supposed to destroy [[RealityIsOutToLunch Gates]] along with [[AlienSky everything]] and [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual everyone]] linked to them. Or at least one quite competent MadScientist is quite sure it should, anyway. There was some commotion when the news about this leaked out, of course. Note that the tunnels around the storage ring are evacuated -- as far as people on whom "workplace safety" extends are concerned. [[spoiler:And that the damaged tube looks like it's under some heavy fire even when no one hits it anymore.]]
* The plot in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' is based around the idea that the Large Haldron Collider successfully generated [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerr_black_holes kerr black holes]] that could be used for the purposes of time travel.\\
In a comical twist, the type of time travel the main cast uses, which only sends back small quantities of data, requires a much smaller particle accelerator. [[spoiler:A CRT monitor in the room below them has to be on, thus why they were only able to activate it at certain times in the day.]]

* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' featured a particle accelerator that got turned into a dragon-like monster by the Zondars. It and its creator later play a major role in defeating the BigBad.
* ''Manga/SilentMobius'' has a giant particle accelerator underneath Tokyo that played a major role in Project Gaia, a failed attempt to solve Earth's energy or pollution problems or something like that. Magic was also involved in the project.

* Most of the Wormhole Reactor in ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita: Last Order'' was built from AppliedPhlebotinum, but among all of these it includes a particle accelerator built into the ''ring orbiting Jupiter''. The heroine, who managed to get a full access to it, used its output to PowerUp the [[BarefistedMonk Don Fua's]] [[MegatonPunch black-hole-generating punch]].

* In ''ComicBook/ThePunisher2099'', the new Punisher uses a sort of Particle Accelerator to "kill" the soul of a criminal that obtained immortality via reincarnation. Possibly the poster definition of "overkilling".

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' may have been the first example. [[PhysicalGod Dr. Manhattan]] gains his powers from being caught in a particle physics experiment, even though the terminology used is very different TechnoBabble from [[PhlebotinumDuJour what you'd get from a modern example]].

* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' has a [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed No Hadron Colliders Were Harmed]] version of the LHC, close enough to Paris that [[EiffelTowerEffect the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible]]. It's also apparently owned and run by a single rich, snooty man and, once he's taken hostage, Cobra is free to use it to activate their stolen nanoweapons.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' has portable versions. It's possible to build such a device but they wouldn't act like the ones shown.

* The plot of Volume 19 of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' kicks off when terrorists steal the controls to a gigantic Particle Accelerator hidden underneath Academy City and threaten to use it to blow up a huge chunk of the city if their demands are not met.

* In the novel ''{{Flashforward}}'', firing the LHC at the exact moment a neutron star erupts starts the plot's [[TimeyWimeyBall Timey Wimequake]].
* Not exactly this trope, but ''Discworld'' has a very literal example, with a machine designed to split the smallest known particle of magic, the thaum.
* In ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', Wowbagger's immortality is attributed to a freak accident that involved, [[NoodleImplements among other things]], an irrational particle accelerator.
* ''[[Literature/ZeusIsDead Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure]]'' features the CERN LHC as part of a long-range contingency plan by [[spoiler: Zeus]] to [[spoiler: create new gods]] in concert with his own power, some space rocks, and some "really good fudge."

* An incident in VasiliGolovachov's novel ''Special Control'' involves a deep-space lab experimenting with a high-powered particle accelerator, when an old secret military satellite passes by. The satellite launches missiles at the lab and destroys it at the moment the two antiproton particle beams are firing. The beams end up not hitting their target and escape into space. One goes off towards the Triangulum constellation, and the other towards a habitable zone on Mars. Luckily, [[SubspaceAnsible FTL communications]] and sensors allow humans to head off the beam and set up a "net" to catch it before it hits the planet.

* This type of device was used in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Soft Light", giving a guy a literal killer shadow.
* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' [[spoiler: HG Wells steals antimatter from the CERN facility to power the Imperceptor vest to break into the Escher Vault and steal cosmetics. Oh, and the plan to a death ray.]]
* Though never actually explained, the brief view on approach to ''Series/TerraNova'''s Hope Plaza include a pair of massive circular structures, probably intended to be particle-accelerator components. Presumably this means that achieving TimeTravel requires a Magical Particle Accelerator in that Verse.
* One sets up most of the plot of the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E9Repairs Repairs]]". The team believe that an accelerator explosion gave Hanna, a safety inspector working at the facility, [[MindOverMatter telekinetic powers]]. It turns out that the accelerator was being used in an attempt to recreate the rifts from ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' and another employee, Tobias, got caught in one such rift created during the explosion. Tobias is now constantly moving between worlds, turning him into a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent pseudo ghost]], and he is "[[StalkerWithACrush haunting]]" Hanna.

* An episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' has the same method used to accidentally discover a SubspaceOrHyperspace, which appears to allow shortcuts through space. [[spoiler:Except said "shortcut" is actually the bloodstream of a living universe that starts to fight off the invaders like any immune system would]].

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Barry, as well as a number of other [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual meta-humans]], get their powers as a result of the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs. The lightning that strikes Barry comes from a storm caused by the explosion. According to Dr. Wells, the explosion releases "anti-matter, dark energy, X-elements" into our world with unknown effects. [[spoiler:A later episode reveals that Eobard Thawne, AKA the Reverse-Flash, has traveled back in time and got stuck there. In order to find his way back to the future, he killed the real Dr. Wells and took on his appearance in order to build the particle accelerator half a decade earlier in order to ensure that Barry would get his powers earlier than in the original timeline, allowing "Wells" to train him and, eventually, tap into Barry's connection to the Speed Force]].

* ''TabletopGame/TalesFromTheLoop'': The titular "Loop" is the world's largest particle accelerator, located in Sweden (and its 'sister' located in Boulder City, Nevada), which has turned the cities surrounding it into ''Series/EerieIndiana''-esque WeirdnessMagnet sites (this comparison is deliberate by the design--the game takes a lot of inspiration from kids' adventure stories from TheEighties).

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' [[spoiler:the universe the characters live in was created by a physics experiment GoneHorriblyWrong involving a gigantic toroidal accelerator built into an artificial ring around the Earth. This had the unfortunate side effect of blowing up the old universe, killing everybody in it except for two of the scientists working on the experiment and turning them into gods so they could start up a new one.]]

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', the Yamato Perpetual Reactor was ''originally'' built to study black holes. It also creates portals to other worlds, allowing demons and so-called "angels" to enter, [[spoiler: and its ''true'' purpose is [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt to create a black hole that will consume all of creation]] - all it takes is a push from a willing player character.]]

** Parodied in the first game, where the Allies have a [[FantasticNuke Particle Accelerator]] as their Superweapon. They use it as a giant gun, but considering some of the [[HarmlessFreezing other]] [[ShrinkRay weapons]] in [[SovietSuperscience the]] [[HumongousMecha setting]], it's obviously a subtle crack at the LHC debacle.

* A particle accelerator is used to create a [[UnrealisticBlackHole gravitational singularity]] or a tesla in VideoGame/SpaceStation13 depending at what is aimed at.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'', [[TimeyWimeyBall Past-Future Pickle Inspector and Future-Future Pickle Inspector]] have the [[LimitBreak Comb Rave]] power "Large Hadron Anti Part-Pickle Acceleration, where they [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001595 build a particle accelerator]] using [[MagicalRealism portals made of traffic lights]], [[spoiler:destroying [[FinalBoss DMK]]'s final health bar.]]
* ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis'': Cassie's workplace has [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=507 their own supercollider,]] which she uses to experiment with forging new elements... and [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=509 that's how she comes up with the element]] that enables TimeTravel.
* In the ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip about [[https://xkcd.com/401/ Large Hadron Collider]] the scientists hit all kinds of things with the proton beam while bored. They manage to give a helicopter cancer. The AltText reveals some more kinds of magic this beam can do.

-->'''Prof. Farnsworth:''' [[CatchphraseInterruptus Bad news nobody]]. The Super Collider's Super Exploded. I need you to take it back to trade it in for a wobbly CD rack and some of those rancid meatballs.

* Some gems have unusual colors not because of minor chemical contamination but because of structural changes due to radiation exposure-- for one, [[http://www.internetstones.com/dresden-green-diamond-famous-jewelry.html green diamonds.]] They are either found in places where it was subjected to lots of penetrating radiation over centuries, or made by affecting a normal gem with the same... really quickly.
* Another decorative application of high-energy beams: [[http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/Lichtenberg%20figures/Lichtenbergfigures.htm Lichtenberg figures.]] Like with gems, photo can't show all the beauty of mica-like light reflections in the fine 3D structure, though demonstrates the principle.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' [[spoiler:the universe the characters live in was created by a physics experiment GoneHorriblyWrong involving a gigantic toroidal accelerator built into an artificial ring around the Earth. This had the unfortunate side effect of blowing up the old universe, killing everybody in it except for two of the scientists working on the experiment and turning them into gods so they could start up a new one.]]

* Most of the Wormhole Reactor in ''Manga/{{GUNNM}}: Last Order'' was built from AppliedPhlebotinum, but among all of these it includes a particle accelerator built into the ''ring orbiting Jupiter''. The heroine, who managed to get a full access to it, used its output to PowerUp the [[BarefistedMonk Don Fua's]] [[MegatonPunch black-hole-generating punch]].

* ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis'': Cassie's workplace has [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=507 their own supercollider]], which she uses to experiment with forging new elements... and [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=509 that's how she comes up with the element]] that enables TimeTravel.

* In ''The Two Hundred'' on [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad American Dad]] Roger splits into 200 of his personas and causes an apocalyptic explosion after stepping into a particle accelerator for his Ray Bans. The rest of the episode is InMediasRes of the fallout.

* Some gems have unusual colors not because of minor chemical contamination but because of structural changes due to radiation exposure-- for one, [[http://www.internetstones.com/dresden-green-diamond-famous-jewelry.html green diamonds]]. They are either found in places where it was subjected to lots of penetrating radiation over centuries, or made by affecting a normal gem with the same... really quickly.
* Another decorative application of high-energy beams: [[http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/Lichtenberg%20figures/Lichtenbergfigures.htm Lichtenberg figures]]. Like with gems, photo can't show all the beauty of mica-like light reflections in the fine 3D structure, though demonstrates the principle.

* Most of the Wormhole Reactor in ''Manga/{{GUNNM}}: Last Order'' was built from {{Handwavium}}, but among all of these it includes a particle accelerator built into the ''ring orbiting Jupiter''. The heroine, who managed to get a full access to it, used its output to PowerUp the [[BarefistedMonk Don Fua's]] [[MegatonPunch black-hole-generating punch]].

* Parodied In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', where the Allies have a [[FantasticNuke Particle Accelerator]] as their Superweapon. They use it as a giant gun, but considering some of the [[HarmlessFreezing other]] [[ShrinkRay weapons]] in [[SovietSuperscience the]] [[HumongousMecha setting]], it's obviously a subtle crack at the LHC debacle.

* The ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' radio play "Lost Souls", written to celebrate the launch of the LHC, has an alien soul-stealer living in the tunnels of the Collider, let in by a rip in the universe caused by the accelerator. [[ReversePolarity Reversing the polarity]] of the beams conveniently destroys the beast ''and'' reveals the Higgs Boson. The monster is a definite case of YouFailPhysicsForever. It steals all your neutrons!

** Good thing he didn't stick his head in the [[{{antimatter}} antiproton]] stream.
*** Once you push something to ~90% of the speed of light, it'll release a pretty similar amount of boom regardless of whether it is antimatter or not, because of the sheer amount of kinetic energy it possesses. The U-70 synchrotron could push a proton to 99.99% of the speed of light. Switching to antimatter would be a rounding error on the collision energies at that point; it would have made no difference.

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' may have been the first example. [[PhysicalGod Dr. Manhattan]] gains his powers from being caught in a particle physics experiment, even though the terminology used is very different TechnoBabble from [[ScienceMarchesOn what you'd get from a modern example]].

* Though never actually explained, the brief view on approach to ''Series/TerraNova'''s Hope Plaza include a pair of massive circular structures, probably intended to be particle-accelerator components. Presumably this means that achieving TimeTravel requires a MagicalParticleAccelerator in that Verse.

* In the 2014 version of ''[[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]]'', Barry, as well as a number of other [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual meta-humans]], get their powers as a result of the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs. The lightning that strikes Barry comes from a storm caused by the explosion. According to Dr. Wells, the explosion releases "anti-matter, dark energy, X-elements" into our world with unknown effects. [[spoiler:A later episode reveals that Eobard Thawne, AKA the Reverse-Flash, has traveled back in time and got stuck there. In order to find his way back to the future, he killed the real Dr. Wells and took on his appearance in order to build the particle accelerator half a decade earlier in order to ensure that Barry would get his powers earlier than in the original timeline, allowing "Wells" to train him and, eventually, tap into Barry's connection to the Speed Force]].

In a comically twist, the type of time travel the main cast uses, which only sends back small quantities of data, requires a much smaller particle accelerator. [[spoiler:A CRT monitor in the room below them has to be on, thus why they were only able to activate it at certain times in the day.]]