There is a small possibility it could happen. Of course, there is about the same chance that ‘W’ will wake up and see the error of his ways, and beg forgiveness from the nation he has shafted for the last seven and a half years.

Now that we have that over with, it is interesting to know that there are many people who have tried vigorously to get the LHC project shut down. I don’t think Enrico Fermi had this much trouble, when he built the atomic pile under the grandstands at the University of Chicago. But then that was ostensibly a secret, and the LHC has gotten a lot of press.

from whatsnextintech.com

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is about to be turned on in a little over a day now, and we will soon find out whether or not it will open up a black hole an swallow our beloved Earth along with a large chunk of our solar system with it. For all those that haven’t heard of the LHC or its doomsday theories I am serious. Some people are even trying to take it through the courts and stop its activation until more safety tests have been completed.  An excerpt from lhcdefence.org, a website dedicated to trying to stop the LHC experiments is as follows:

“scientists concede that there is a real possibility of creating destructive theoretical anomalies such as miniature black holes, strangelets and deSitter space transitions. These events have the potential to fundamentally alter matter and destroy our planet.”

However it fails to say the number of those scientists, which is a pretty small number. So below is a list of the most commonly asked questions about the Large Hadron Collider and there answers compiled here.

so

What is the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider?

The Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator complex spanning the border between Switzerland and France near Geneva. LHC will smash together opposing beams of either protons or lead ions inside a massive circular accelerator.

Will the LHC form a black hole or end the world?

Short answer, No the Large Hadron Collider will not destroy the world. Here is an excellent excerpt from the CERN website describing how this is not possible

“Speculations about microscopic black holes at the LHC refer to particles produced in the collisions of pairs of protons, each of which has an energy comparable to that of a mosquito in flight. Astronomical black holes are much heavier than anything that could be produced at the LHC.

According to the well-established properties of gravity, described by Einstein’s relativity, it is impossible for microscopic black holes to be produced at the LHC. There are, however, some speculative theories that predict the production of such particles at the LHC. All these theories predict that these particles would disintegrate immediately. Black holes, therefore, would have no time to start accreting matter and to cause macroscopic effects.
Although stable microscopic black holes are not expected in theory, study of the consequences of their production by cosmic rays shows that they would be harmless.”[Source: CERN]

What is the purpose of the Large Hadron Collider?

The LHC was built to help scientists answer unresolved questions in particle physics and to recreate the conditions just after the big bang. It is theorized that when activated it will produce the elusive Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson will help us better understand the origins of the universe, Which is what the LHC is all about, it’s about solving the mysteries physicists and scientists alike have been plagued with for centuries.

“Only experimental data using the higher energies reached by the LHC can push knowledge forward, challenging those who seek confirmation of established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the paradigm.”[Source:CERN]

For a live countdown until LHC is activated, you can find one at lhcountdown

I have been following this project since the first we hear of the idea to build an LHC. I have been fascinated with nuclear physics since I was about 8 and I was given ‘The How and Why Book of The Atom’. This stuff is the study of what makes up the universe at the very smallest level. It tells us about interactions that seem ridiculous to most people, yet have to be accounted for in the realm of the exceedingly small. (Just try explaining the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to anyone who has no grounding in physics – they look at you like you’re putting them on, or have gone mad.)

As I write this, I am trying to check the countdown timer, but I keep getting 503 errors, which usually means there are too many hits. It means that lots of people are interested in this type of research, although probably few from this country. We, as a nation, seem to have lost our love of learning. That was shown when our own Super Collider project was cancelled. It was underway in Texas, and then funding dried up – it just was not important enough.

What a pity. Quest for knowledge is what got this nation as far as it has come. Also, science doesn’t fare as well in school as it once did. It makes it harder to compete in the world, and one reason why so many companies cry out for those extra H-1B visas.

More tomorrow. Or maybe not. (g)

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Quote of the day:

Character is what you have left when you’ve lost everything you can lose. - Evan Esar

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