( CNN ) -- Deep underground on the border between France and Switzerland , the world 's largest particle accelerator complex will explore the world on smaller scales than any human invention has explored before . The collider 's ALICE experiment will look at how the universe formed by analyzing particle collisions . The Large Hadron Collider will look at how the universe formed by analyzing particle collisions . Some have expressed fears that the project could lead to the Earth 's demise -- something scientists say will not happen . Still , skeptics have filed suit to try to stop the project . It even has a rap dedicated to it on YouTube . Scientists say the collider is finally ready for an attempt to circulate a beam of protons the whole way around the 17-mile tunnel . The test , which takes place Wednesday , is a major step toward seeing if the the immense experiment will provide new information about the way the universe works . `` It 's really a generation that we 've been looking forward to this moment , and the moments that will come after it in particular , '' said Bob Cousins , deputy to the scientific leader of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment , one of six experiments inside the collider complex . `` September 10 is a demarcation between finishing the construction and starting to turn it on , but the excitement will only continue to grow . '' The collider consists of a particle accelerator buried more than 300 feet near Geneva , Switzerland . About $ 10 billion have gone into the accelerator 's construction , the particle detectors and the computers , said Katie Yurkewicz , spokewoman for CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research , which is host to the collider . In the coming months , the collider is expected to begin smashing particles into each other by sending two beams of protons around the tunnel in opposite directions . It will operate at higher energies and intensities in the next year , and the experiments could generate enough data to make a discovery by 2009 , experts say . Check out the collider complex 's six detectors » . Testing the unknown . Experts say the collider has the potential to confirm theories about questions that physicists have been working on for decades including the possible existence of extra dimensions . They also hope to find a theoretical particle called the Higgs boson , which has never been detected , but would help explain why matter has mass . The collider will recreate the conditions of less than a millionth of a second after the Big Bang , when there was a hot `` soup '' of tiny particles called quarks and gluons , to look at how the universe evolved , said John Harris , U.S. coordinator for ALICE , a detector specialized to analyze that question . Since this is exploratory science , the collider may uncover surprises that contradict prevailing theories , but which are just as interesting , said Joseph Lykken , theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory . `` When Columbus sails west , he thought he was going to find something . He did n't find what he thought he was going to find , but he did find something interesting , '' said Lykken , who works on the Compact Muon Solenoid , one of six experiments inside the collider complex . Why should the layperson care about this particular exploration ? Years ago , when electrons were first identified , no one knew what they were good for , but they have since transformed our entire economy , said Howard Gordon , deputy research program manager for the collider 's ATLAS experiment . `` The transformative effect of this research will be to understand the world we live in much better , '' said Gordon , at Brookhaven National Laboratory . `` It 's important for just who we are , what we are . '' Black hole fears are `` baloney '' Fears have emerged that the collider could produce black holes that could suck up anything around them -- including the whole Earth . Such fears prompted legal actions in the U.S. and Europe to halt the operation of the Large Hadron Collider , alleging safety concerns regarding black holes and other phenomena that could theoretically emerge . Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could , in theory , create small black holes , they say they do not pose any risk . A study released Friday by CERN scientists explains that any black hole created would be tiny , and would not have enough energy to stick around very long before dissolving . Five collider collaborators who did not pen the report independently told CNN there would be no danger from potential black holes . John Huth , who works on the collider 's ATLAS experiment , called such fears `` baloney '' in a recent interview , and noted that in normal physics , even if the black hole were stable , it could just pass through the Earth without being detected or without interacting at all . `` The gravitational force is so weak that you 'd have to wait many , many , many , many , many lifetimes of the universe before one of these things could [ get ] big enough to even get close to being a problem , '' said Huth , professor of physics at Harvard University . At the scene . When visiting the general-purpose detectors CMS and ATLAS at the Large Hadron Collider , Lykken said he was awed that 30,000 tons of electronics would have to work without anyone fiddling with them all the time . `` It just blows you away to look at these things and realize they 're not only incredibly complex and huge , but they have to actually work , '' he said . `` They have to work without people banging on them all day because they 're sitting underground all by themselves . '' With twice as much iron as the Eiffel Tower , CMS will run at full power for the first time in conjunction with the first beam test Wednesday , Lykken said . The magnet serves to bend particles , whizzing by at almost the speed of light , to figure out what kind of particles they are . Although the detector 's parts weigh thousands of tons , in previous trials of CMS at lower power , the magnet actually yanked certain parts around because of its power , Lykken said . `` You 're talking about such incredible power inside both the accelerator and detectors that you never really know until you turn it all on what 's going to happen , '' he said . Scientists around the world are pumped for the first beam . Fermilab , the high energy physics lab in Batavia , Illinois , and major collaborator on the Large Hadron Collider , will be host of a `` pajama party '' at 1:30 a.m. CT that includes a live connection to CERN to follow the action . Cousins believes that because the collider pushes the frontiers of science and technology , it would be `` amazingly impressive if it works the first try , '' he said in a phone interview from CERN . Any little disturbance of the magnetic field anywhere in the tunnel could stop the beam from making it all the way around . Still , after a 25-year wait , he 's not complaining . `` I personally will be fine if there 's some problem that has to be overcome in the next few days , '' he said .
Large Hadron Collider will have first attempt at circulating a beam September 10 . It 's the largest particle accelerator in the world and costs about $ 10 billion . Lawsuits allege it could generate black holes that could eat the Earth . Scientists say these allegations have no merit .