the lhc has three main parts to it. there is the particle accelerator, the four detectors, and the grid. the accelerator creates the collision, but the results cannot be directly observed. the detectors turn it into usable data and send it to the grid. the grid is a computer network that the researchers use to interpret the data. there are 170 locations in 36 different countries which are filled with regular desktop computers. all of these computers are connected, and together they act as a supercomputer. the lhc's grid is considered the most powerful supercomputer ever built. the computers share processing power and data storage space.