This data is then sent to the Grid, which is what the researchers use to interpret the data. It is a network of computers operating at 170 locations in 36 different countries. Some of these are regular desktop computers, and anyone can install the LHC Grid software and contribute to the research by donating their computer’s spare power. All of these computers are connected, and together they act as a supercomputer. The LHC's Grid is considered the fastest supercomputer ever built. Although very powerful, the Grid is only able to take in about one percent of the data it receives from the detectors, so scientists are making attempts to design faster computers and use more of the data that LHC provides.

The accelerator creates the collision, but the results cannot be directly observed. At the collision site, there are 8 detectors located underground in large caverns excavated at the LHC's intersection points. Each detector has been designed and proposed to CERN by a different team of scientists and each one records a specific type of data used for different purposes. At the moment of a collision, the explosion passes through each layer and each detector records a different stage of the reaction. The detectors turn these results into usable data.

The LHC has three main parts to it. There is the particle accelerator, the four detectors, and the computer grid. During an experiment, particles called hadrons travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide in separate pipes, with a vacuum inside them. They are guided around the accelerator ring by strong electromagnets. To work efficiently, the electromagnets must be chilled to -271.3°C – a temperature colder than outer space. For this reason, much of the accelerator must be filled with liquid helium, an extremely cold substance. At the early stages of the operation of LHC, a fault led to a loss of approximately six tonnes of liquid helium which was vented into the tunnel. The escaping vapour expanded with explosive force, damaging 53 magnets and contaminating the pipe, which also lost vacuum conditions. The damages took a few months to repair.