In the world's most expensive science experiment, 5,000 scientists, engineers and technicians from nearly three dozen countries will attempt to test the Big Bang theory to understanding the beginning of time.

The tests, to re-create what happened immediately after the Big Bang, will be conducted using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located underneath the French-Swiss border, in the European Organization for Nuclear Research laboratory -- better known by its French acronym CERN.

After preparing for nearly three decades, physicists will fire the first particles around a 16 mile long magnetic loop buried 100 meters (328 feet) under ground in a mega tunnel where the environment colder than outer space.

Researchers believe that as the particles move to the speed of light some will collide, triggering new particles that may also help scientists understand why the expansion of the universe is accelerating instead of slowing as predicted by theory. The experiment held in Geneva will help them understand what most of the universe is made of when the "Big Bang" happened 13.7 billion years ago.

The 6 billion Swiss franc ($5.3 billion) experiment will attempt to generate an environment that resembles conditions one thousandth of a millionth of a second after the start of time, and the creation of all the universe's building material.

The data expected from the experiments will be managed by 60,000 computers around the world to help calculate the results. It's called the LHC Grid, which is seven times more powerful than the Tevatron, an energy level that physicists agree is powerful enough to shatter the proton into its most fundamental pieces: sub-particles that exist by themselves for only a billionth of a second.

The first protons will be injected into the 16 mile ring-shaped tunnel at the headquarters of CERN at 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) on Wednesday. The operation will trigger a long and cautious commissioning process, testing equipment and procedures, before starting experiments a matter of weeks from now, AFP reports.

The main aim of the experiment is to find a particle, called the Higgs Boson after British physicist Peter Higgs, who devised the theory of its existence in 1964. The "Higgs" would explain how particles acquire mass, and some particles are more massive than others.

The experiment has also triggered a number of wild controversies, with speculation that it could create a black hole of intense gravity which could suck in Europe and perhaps the whole planet. However, CERN and France have carried out their own safety probes.