LHC fires up this wednesday!

forge · Post by **forge** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:34 pm

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/4998705

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:43 pm

McCain has a plan to combat a man made big bang.

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:48 pm

Normally they do lots of smaller collisions when they build these things -a steady build up. But apparently they are going all out on the first test because it is already overdue (it was originally planned for May).

It might be like the Millenium Falcon trying to make the jump to light speed - just a big noise and nothing... then one of the engineers reveals loads of screws and washers in his pockets that he should have used during the build. After all, there are always bits left over (not counting spares).

SimonPHC · Post by **SimonPHC** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:51 pm

CERN has had to launch a PR campaign aimed at reassuring the public that the LHC will not create black holes that could engulf the planet or an unpleasant hypothetical particle called a strangelet that would turn the Earth into a lump of goo.

oh my

[dfi] · Post by **[dfi]** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:56 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBa-w6GG ... re=related
=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wn1T_JUJMY

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:19 pm

A black hole could be created but it will only exist for a fraction of a second and won't engulf the Earth.

Haha... but yeah I remembered Half-Life.

Hidden Driveways · Post by **Hidden Driveways** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:25 pm

Explained for the dance community:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

madhattared · Post by **madhattared** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:38 pm

its probably just going to give all swiss men a raging hardon. hooray bohrons!

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:55 pm

go CERN, go High Energy Physics!

scientists can recreate the conditions of the universe a fraction of a second after the big bang, but Live still cant keep proper midi clock! what a world.

i say bring on the grey goo.

bosonHavoc · Post by **bosonHavoc** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:04 am

forge · Post by **forge** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:58 am

SimonPHC wrote:
CERN has had to launch a PR campaign aimed at reassuring the public that the LHC will not create black holes that could engulf the planet or an unpleasant hypothetical particle called a strangelet that would turn the Earth into a lump of goo.
oh my

I watched some doco about it maybe last year and the reporter asked the physicist about that and the look of contempt and pity he gave her was quite funny as he tried to explain it, clearly thinking there was no point

but yeah, there is something slightly unnerving about the fact that they are doing it in the first place to observe what happens because they don't actually know what will!

forge · Post by **forge** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:10 am

adventurepants_ wrote: scientists can recreate the conditions of the universe a fraction of a second after the big bang, but Live still cant keep proper midi clock! what a world.
.

I guess if they had 2 and a half thousand particle physicists on it they'd have a pretty good chance!

DjViral · Post by **DjViral** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:22 am

bye bye world. this is what they speak of when civilizations get too advanced and just wipe themselves out.

forge · Post by **forge** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:22 am

this guy explains it quite concisely:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPxYdOby ... re=related

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:10 am

DjViral wrote:bye bye world. this is what they speak of when civilizations get too advanced and just wipe themselves out.

which civilisations are you talking about specifically? all the other ones that built particle accelerators and wiped themselves out?