What Is The Large Hadron Collider
Update: Since the delay on the 7th of July its now just '13' days till activation as of the 25th, however I wouldn't be suprised if it gets delayed yet again on that date.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is about to be turned on 'maybe' in a little over 13 days 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.
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
The LHC is my favorite atom smasher. The idea that it would produce something of the kind that could destroy the Earth is laughable though it would not be a great loss in the whole of the universe.
People bemoan this unlikely scenario all the while turning a blind eye to the fact that the planet they all love so much is being consumed to destruction very much consideration of the consequences for the next generations. So let us please stop whining, if the Earth was that important to us we'd take much better care of it.
If LHC was able to produce something that destroyed the planet, cosmic radiation, which is much stronger and has been bombarding the Earth for billions of years, would have done that by now.
The fact that it hasn't should be an indication of the reality that although these things are -theoretically- possible, the world, quite literally, doesn't work that way.
Plus, and I can say it because I am one of the great unwashed, most of the people making these comments are not exactly on the level of the collected IQ at CERN. These are people who have done a lot of hard work for a long time to get where they are. They -understand- how these things work. To have some nincompoop come in to tell them 'what you do is wrong for planet Earth' is like a prophet selling a religion. The blind leading the blind.
Although I don't know nearly enough physics to enjoy the feats of intellectual bravery routinely undertaken at CERN, these people must be given all the means to do their work. It is far more valuable and useful than waging wars of choice, something the protesters would do well to act against instead of directing their energies towards one of the greatest intellectual undertakings of our time.
Throw that switch already, boys and girls. Smash me some atoms!
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I agree with you completely! But there's something you have wrong about radiation. You said that cosmic radiation would have already killed us by now, but the only thing that stops radiation from killing us is the Earth's Magentic barrier. INTERNAL radiation could kill us, but this device would do no harm.
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You're somewhat confused. The argument is that if the LHC could create some kind of black hole that would devour the earth, then said black hole would have already created in the upper atmosphere where such high energy collisions are common. The point being, that there are *natural sources* that produce much higher energy collisions than the LHC will.
In fact, and there may be better examples of this, there was an event seen in 1991 by the University of Utah's "Fly Eye" cosmic ray detector that registered 300*10^18 electronvolts when it hit the upper atmosphere. In way of comparison, the current most powerful particle accelerator, Fermilab's Tevatron in Batavia, IL generates collision energies of about 10^12. So nature is making something that is 300 million times as powerful.
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000552
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeV
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so... we MUST out power nature!!
and this article along with a few of the comments made me happy, i love living, and the possible thought of early death terrifies me! (not really, but whatever)
either way, its good to know that theres infinitesimal chance of anything truly bad happening
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"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."
Another quote that is even more interesting is from CERN's Scientific Policy Committee (basically a board of directors):
“A powerful argument applicable also to higher energies is formulated making reference to observed neutron stars, but this argument relies on properties of cosmic rays and neutrinos that, while highly plausible, do require confirmation, as can be expected in the coming years.”
LHCFacts.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_of_the_Large_Hadron_Collider
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I'm working on an LHC experiment, and it definitely won't be ready any time this month!
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I'm working on an LHC experiment, and bunch collisions won't be happening anytime in the next couple of months- maybe October, hopefully, and even then this won't be at 14 TeV.
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John Titor predicted that the LHC would create black holes and these would be used to create a time machine.
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On the basis that the LHC could possibly create various previously unknown/unseen exotic particles etc; what would happen if somehow a particle of dark matter/anti matter was made?
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We're all gonna die!!! Everyone, run into the streets, screaming as loud as you can, NOW!!!
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"what would happen if somehow a particle of dark matter/anti matter was made?"
The components of dark matter are currently just conjecture, but anti-matter has been studied broadly and is routinely made. At the RHIC collider matter is collided with anti-matter and anti-matter is also one of the by products of high energy collisions, such as what will occur at the Large Hadron Collider. Anti-matter does not last long on Earth unless it is carefully contained in magnetic traps. When anti-matter joins with its matter counter part, all the energy of both particles is released and both matter and anti-matter are converted to energy. But the amount of energy released by a single particle of anti-matter is not enough to be dangerous, unless the energy is enough to create a micro black hole.
A micro black hole has never been directly observed, and it is unknown if creation of micro black holes on Earth would prove safe or dangerous. But safe or not, they may be produced in the coming months.
LHCFacts.org
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Sounds like an interesting device, i am not worried at all, providing it's not being operated on by a Mr Gordon Freeman ;)
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If the LHC ends up producing a black hole, our time on this planet will be over. My logic tells me that if a black hole appears, it is impossible for it to just disappear. The mass is so great, even light cannot escape.
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This reminds me of the Supercollider that was canceled because it required too much government funding...
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See, the countdown has been changed.
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@JTankers
Hi, thanks for the reply.
"all the energy of both particles is released"
What if the created dark matter particle has a high enough energy state
that when annihilated, (with an anti-matter particle), it causes a much higher energy release than expected?
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Sounds like a good question for a professional particle physicist. But I can take a swag. The amount of energy can fairly accurately be calculated based on the mass and speed of the particles that collide. If more that one set of particles collide, which I understand is not generally expected, then the total energy released could double.
The primary concern with some in the scientific community is the creation of microscopic but extremely stable matter such as a micro black hole. Several recent theories have been proposed as to why these should be considered safe, but these theories have so far been primarily funded and reviewed by persons with a close relationship to the Large Hadron Collider project, and the significant funds that this project controls.
Other studies predict the possibility of risk, even very high risk. The largest problem at the moment is just trying to keep the message balanced, as the resources available on the Large Hadron Collider side to advance only their side of the story are significant.
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The LHC could create black holes that might swallow up the whole planet:
http://www.lhcdefense.org/lhc_risks.php
I tried to find a pro-LHC source that would successfully make me feel safe about that but after reading dozens I haven't.
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