Worlds deepest underground lab at 4,850 feet

The stage is set for the worlds deepest underground lab at the Homestake Gold Mine . This lab is reported to be built at 4,850 feet under the ground, which is equivalent to more than six empire state buildings. The Homestake Gold Mine was in use for 125 years, until it was shut down in 2001. This site has been a shrine to physicist and researchers alike and was once the site of Nobel Prize-winning physics research.


Ray Davis Jr. used it in the 1960s to demonstrate the existence of particles called solar neutrinos. Davis and a colleague named John Bahcall wnet on to win a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize for physics for their work.. This site is ideal for experiments because its location is largely shielded from cosmic rays that could interfere with efforts to prove the existence of dark matter, which is thought to make up nearly a quarter of the mass of the universe. This lab will certainly help scientist set up the first dark matter experiment called the Large Underground Xenon detector experiment (LUX), which will get them a greater insight into the Big Bang explosion believed to have formed the universe. After its completion, this lab will be a site for many such groundbreaking experiments and currently work is on to stabilize the tunnels and install new infrastructure at an estimated cost of $550 million.

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