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Worries about world's largest particle accelerator

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720skiguy
Posts: 4553 - Karma: 21
people think this thing might create a mini black hole or particles that are capable of destroying the earth.

crazy.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/34711
Jun 23 2008 11:52PM
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Mooose...
Posts: 1807 - Karma: 77
link:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/34711
Jun 23 2008 11:55PM
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k-rob
Posts: 14217 - Karma: 2,891
it won't happen and even if it does what do you have to worry about? we'll all be dead so fast you won't have time to think.
Jun 24 2008 12:59AM
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Mezmerize19
Posts: 6475 - Karma: 18
seriously
Jun 24 2008 1:02AM
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BEARS.
Posts: 5380 - Karma: 696
i dont get it
Jun 24 2008 1:21AM
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popNfresh44
Posts: 3757 - Karma: 44
its to determine if there are more than 3 dimensions. basically they shoot 2 atoms at each other at the speed of light and see what happens. i doubt it will create a black hole.
Jun 24 2008 1:24AM
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buchanan.
Posts: 1911 - Karma: 156

"will produce black holes or hypothetical particles known as strangelets that could destroy the Earth". hahahahaha. anyone else find that sentence really funny? there will always be some nutcase that will come to the conclusion that somthing situation will end in a black whole and the destruction of earth.

Jun 24 2008 1:31AM
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brokebutitsworthit
Posts: 2279 - Karma: 27
when is that experiment scheduled? 
Jun 24 2008 1:45AM
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CFD
Posts: 1009 - Karma: 197
quantum sized black holes occur around us all the time and have no effect upon our lives.. i find it hard to believe that any black hole created by the low energies we can achieve could destroy the earth
Jun 24 2008 2:58AM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
the black holes out in space which supposedly have infinite mass are caused by collapsed stars... like the size of the sun... this ain't gonna do shit, despite how extreme the scientists like to think they are

Jun 24 2008 3:06AM
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aaron.ebner
Posts: 2868 - Karma: 61
they don't have infinite mass, only the mass of the stars and other shit that have fallen victim to them.....




and that's rediclous for them to think they are going to create a black hole.
Jun 24 2008 3:50AM
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KRASHED
Posts: 7803 - Karma: 466
look on the bright side, if a blackhole does occur we wont be around to bitch about it.
Jun 24 2008 7:42AM
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tommihq
Posts: 905 - Karma: 11
Im too lazy to check the link but this is about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) right?
Jun 24 2008 7:43AM
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-+Siver+-
Posts: 1902 - Karma: 12
i think it's a sick experiment, because in reality we really don't know much about photons and atoms and what they are capable of, there is still a lot to learn.
Jun 24 2008 8:36AM
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b-kul
Posts: 4350 - Karma: 1,111
can i help?
Jun 24 2008 9:02AM
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GhostfaceKillah
Posts: 3398 - Karma: 10
murphy's law anyone?

nobody knows what this bad boy is gona do, so they have to prepare for the worst
Jun 24 2008 9:13AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Im impressed this is here...i was going to post some links up in a thread on this topic but i didnt think anyone would care.

Its actually just about to start operations (most of the sections have been cooled down to operating temps now and the last few are well on their way).

Here is a TED.com video giving a bit of a break as to what is going on there:




I'm not sure how I feel about this right now though...Either way, the results of the experiments will be interesting :P Its either going to be ground breaking research (perhaps on the level of enstien and newton) or something is going to go horriblely wrong...*fingers crossed*
Jun 24 2008 9:43AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
BTW the guy doing the speech there is a scientist working on one of the collision sections of the LHC. So clearly he is going to be biased towards it since he's working on it so take that into consideration when watching.

He explains the purpose of the experiements but if you want more detail, watch the talk on String Theory (also found on ted.com)
Jun 24 2008 9:46AM
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BASS_PRO_SHOP
Posts: 1519 - Karma: 52
i hope something horrible goes wrong like a massive explosion or something. be a good lead into the next marvel comic movie.
Jun 24 2008 10:03AM
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Twig
Posts: 6407 - Karma: 60,033
one day a nuclear war or some scientist will actually manage to destroy humanity.. its natures answer to our evolving beyond earth's means
Jun 24 2008 10:31AM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
Hahah I love the TED videos. They always seem to make me smile because I know so little about science. I did love his little part on the Higg's particle. The seemingly nonexistent particle that must be there to make the standard model work. Physicists love doing that. Same thing with the neutrino. We haven't found it yet, we're just pretty sure it has to be there.

Another great post Ryno.
Jun 24 2008 10:32AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Thanks :)

Have you checked out the TED.com video of super string theory? It combines nicely with this topic.
Jun 24 2008 10:41AM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
Hahah I just started watching it. I found a place where all physics directed videos are. I think I'm going to start with those and then move on to all the videos.
Jun 24 2008 10:50AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
I think its brian greene that does it...he explains it all in simple terms really well (well i think so because i have no physics background and it makes sense to me).
Jun 24 2008 10:56AM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
You are correct on the Brian Greene part. And he does explain it beautifully. The ant analogy works so well, at least for my mind. And I'm on the same boat as you in the physics department. Although I have some minute knowledge of it, it doesn't really matter because my grasp of physics is so elementary (not particles mind you, haha)
Jun 24 2008 11:00AM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
I just finished the String theory video and he did tie together the two videos very well. What I'm wondering about now is those 20 numbers he said that tied together the universe. It'd be interesting to find out what they were.
Jun 24 2008 11:12AM
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phishfood
Posts: 2542 - Karma: 298
mah threads i want to watch that video later when i'm feeling smarter
Jun 24 2008 11:19AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Yeah the talks both leave a lot of questions.

Plus i'm still not sure about the 10 dimensions that greene refers to...I still dont think there are more then 3 physcial dimensions but I do support the idea of the super small 'string' particles that can act as a medium for other types of energies to pass through. I mean...we used to think that earth, wind, water and fire were the main building blocks of life and then we found out about elements. Before we knew it we broken the elements down into even smaller units called protons/etc so why can;t the protons be broken down even further? makes total sense to me...Problem for me though is those that these smaller particles still seems to exist in 3 dimensions...but im probably missing something obvious here since i know nothing about particle physics :P


Very trippy topic, very interesting as well...
Jun 24 2008 11:19AM
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Ender
Posts: 2348 - Karma: 112
antimatter is some crazy shit son
right up there with yellow cake
Jun 24 2008 11:26AM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13083 - Karma: 18,725
I cant wait until the experiment. This will help us understand nuclear physics, maybe change the way we perceive it. Black hole through a particle accelerator, might as well argue it may create a worm hole. there just isnt enough mass to create one.
Jun 24 2008 12:13PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
crazy thought though, they will be colliding two particles travelling in oppisite directions at 99.9999% the speed of light.

No airbag will save them!
Jun 24 2008 12:16PM
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Ski_Midwest
Posts: 551 - Karma: 10

lol.

Jun 24 2008 12:26PM
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Bepo
Posts: 8195 - Karma: 17
Same here, I think that in this example even traveling in a "4th dimension" you would still be moving in one of the first 3 dimensions.  To really prove theres more than 3 dimensions, you would need to move without changing positions in the first three dimensions, thus moving in a fourth.  Pretty crazy when you think about it
Jun 24 2008 12:29PM
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.Capn.
Posts: 1454 - Karma: 152
To me antimatter is just scientists excuse as to why the universes matter is not not even close to critical mass. There is still very little evidence for anything resembeling antimatter.
Jun 24 2008 1:24PM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
That's science for you know. Coming up with ideas that you think is right and eventually technology or mathematics will enable you to prove it's existence.

That's what this Higg's particle mentioned in one of the movies above is and that's what a neutrino is. These particles are needed in mathematical equations to make them work. We're so sure that they have to be there. Maybe we'll get proved wrong in the future or maybe we won't, that's the fun part about theoretical physics though!
Jun 24 2008 1:28PM
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.Capn.
Posts: 1454 - Karma: 152
I know but as for my understanding antimatter is theoretically impossible to prove real. Because once the anti matter and the real version of the matter are forced to be together neither can exsist and both dissappear. I think it is just a clever way to double the universes matter so that the universes mass is closer to critical mass and the Big Crunch Theory is closer to being proven. I hope it will be proven real because it will open up a whole new realm for physics, I just don't se any way it's possible.
Jun 24 2008 1:42PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
We can only understand what we already know. Unless something new comes up and gives us new insight, we'll just continue to pump out theories with no real proof of backing
Jun 24 2008 1:47PM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
Yup. We're probably wrong about everything we've ever thought up at this point in time. 1000 years from now we'll realize that. But for now what we know works for us.
Jun 24 2008 2:10PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
The potential for disaster at the LHC scares me and but at the same time the people who are best suited for the job are the ones working on it which is reassuring. No one wants to die as a result of this and I hope that the 'community' behind it has eliminated any unnesscary 'shortcuts', in the persuit of defining this unknown particle, that could spell disaster there...


btw...anyone else curious why they built this thing under geneva? if its so dangerous...why not stick it somewhere remote....like the moon?
Jun 24 2008 2:16PM
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Krush
Posts: 1312 - Karma: 12
people had similar worries when they were testing the first nukes. they thought the fusion might start a chain reaction with every atom on the planet but were still here. im sure these guys know what there doin and this is almost more of a stunt about possibly destroying the world
Jun 24 2008 2:19PM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
Well I'm sure the moon would bring in more work for the engineers with the different in gravity and a whole bunch more reason.

But is there a specific date when they turn this baby on or something? It'd be fun to do a countdown or find some streamed video of the engineers turning it on.
Jun 24 2008 2:31PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
The moon comment was kind of a joke. The current location though is right under a city...why not build it in a remote area on earth just in case
Jun 24 2008 3:18PM
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Mike34113
Posts: 1088 - Karma: 112
maybe itll bring nuclear winter!!!!!!!
Jun 24 2008 3:26PM
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Skiingslikewhoa
Posts: 426 - Karma: 12
I think it's presumptuios for us to think we can destroy not only all of humanity but the entire Earth.
Jun 24 2008 3:28PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Better to be safe then sorry though...there is no "undo" button on life
Jun 24 2008 3:36PM
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Mike34113
Posts: 1088 - Karma: 112
very true
Jun 24 2008 3:40PM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
Haha yeah I caught on to the humor. I just didn't convey my understanding in my quote.

Maybe the reason it was built under Geneva came down to cost. If it was built somewhere remote I could easily see the price being doubled, possibly tripled. And I'm sure whatever bureaucrats greenlighted the project would have said no if they saw the price tag.
Jun 24 2008 3:45PM
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Galli
Posts: 1076 - Karma: 378
i wrote a 10 page paper about the LHC this year at school, the chances of anything bad happening are about 1 in 1 trillion. so nothing bad is going to result once they turn it on. there still is that chance i guess, but not really.
Jun 24 2008 4:01PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Due to the complexity of all the issues involved with the LHC, i cant see anyone covering everything in just a 10 page paper; but i'm still interested to hear how you came to the 1-trillion conclusion.
Jun 24 2008 4:06PM
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