The final irony is that Switzerland - the country that avoids conflict at all costs - would be responsible for world demolition.-Carol Haynes (September 11, 2008, 03:53 AM)
If there is/was chance of such disaster why france & switzerland will allow this experiment to happen in the first place? :D Dont you think they are the first one to die if such thing happen,isnt it? Why they will risk their life just to find out Big-bang? ;) ...I think that scientists are so curious about the Higgs boson that they don't care too much about disasters and other things. And their official statement is that no disaster is possible, of course, so Switzerland and France can feel reassured.-mahesh2k (September 11, 2008, 11:21 AM)
If the world ends, will we at least have a few minutes to think about how cool it is and watch it end? or will it happen in the blink of an eye and no one gets to appreciate it?-mouser (September 11, 2008, 11:39 AM)
Well, since the world hasn't ended yet, I guess I still have time to finish reading Cosm (http://www.amazon.com/Cosm-Gregory-Benford/dp/0380790521).-app103 (September 11, 2008, 11:00 AM)
However, such trapped black holes are so tiny, they could pass through a block of iron the distance from the Earth to the Moon and not hit anything. They would each take about 100 hours to gobble up one proton.Maybe it's true, maybe not. Probably they couldn't say "The chance of a black hole eating up the whole planet is only about 0.5% each day, so please please, let us try." :)
My guess is that they in fact know that creating a by-product in the form of a black hole is very unlikely but possible. But admitting it would be a bye-bye to the LHC experiments and the Higgs boson, so they just keep it a Polichinelle's secret.-TPReal (September 11, 2008, 11:37 AM)
Each proton beam flying around the LHC will have an energy of 7 TeV, so when two protons collide the collision energy will be 14 TeV. Lead ions have many protons, and together they give an even greater energy: the lead-ion beams will have a collision energy of 1150 TeV. Both collision energies have never been reached before in a lab.
Energy concentration is what makes particle collisions so special. When you clap your hands you probably do a ‘collision’ at an energy higher than protons at the LHC, but much less concentrated! Now think of what you would do if you were to put a needle in one of your hands. You would certainly slow your hands down as you clapped!
In absolute terms, these energies, if compared to the energies we deal with everyday, are not impressive. In fact, 1 TeV is about the energy of motion of a flying mosquito. What makes the LHC so extraordinary is that it squeezes energy into a space about a million million times smaller than a mosquito.
Actually I thought it would have been kind of neat if the Earth had been destroyed in a proton sized black hole. It would have at least stopped global warming - and just think no more British summers!!! It would also solve the world terror issue and the US christian right in a flash (plus they would all be very happy with the outcome).-Carol Haynes (September 11, 2008, 03:53 AM)
Sorry I thought all christians would like to go to heaven as soon as possible - and that was what I meant by the comment. You may view it as poor taste but I actually find a lot of religious belief and dogma in pretty poor taste - especially when it is imposed on the majority of society who don't share those beliefs.
However, it was a badly phrased sentence and I did not mean to equate world terrorism and christian fundamentalism. It was meant as black humour (presumably I will now be accused of racism).-Carol Haynes (September 12, 2008, 11:11 AM)
It has. You are now in a parallel alternate universe exactly like the one you were in before they fired up the LHC.-40hz (September 11, 2008, 10:47 AM)
If the world ends, will we at least have a few minutes to think about how cool it is and watch it end? or will it happen in the blink of an eye and no one gets to appreciate it?-mouser (September 11, 2008, 11:39 AM)
Think of such classics as: nuclear reactors being perfectly safe; hydrocarbon emissions and the greenhouse effect actually being beneficial (i.e. forestalling another ice age); all the product safety claims being made about half the pharmaceutical products currently being sold; and slapping the buzzword 'green' on every product and service out there.-40hz (September 11, 2008, 01:42 PM)
The intro scene from Another World is pretty actual: YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNeayv-OTK0)
What a beautyful game, and it was about the 1990.-Mark0 (September 12, 2008, 01:22 PM)
Sorry - it just annoys me when tolerance is all meant to be one way. I have frequently been criticised and threatened by fundamentalist christians. If people want to live a bronze age life style (which is what fundamentalist should do to follow the biblical rules correctly) that is fine with me I just object to it being pushed on the majority of society which seems to be a growing trend in the US and UK.-Carol Haynes (September 12, 2008, 01:16 PM)
It has. You are now in a parallel alternate universe exactly like the one you were in before they fired up the LHC.-40hz (September 11, 2008, 10:47 AM)
Not fair, that was going to be my answer :(-Lashiec (September 12, 2008, 01:26 PM)
I think that is one of the biggest issues with science together with how difficult is to raise funding for even the most basic research. Scientists should try to communicate better what's the ultimate outcome of their projects, as small as they could be, and what's the ultimate benefit for the public, even if it's something purely economical in the short-term (creation of jobs and such).-Lashiec (September 12, 2008, 07:53 PM)
Who would have expected the Curie's discovery and theory of radioactivity to have such a remarkable impact on medicine and power generation? Radioactivity was indirectly responsible for the death of Marie Curie after all but during her own lifetime 'little curie' radiography units were used to treat wounded soldiers in World War I.True, But what about experiements like "Anti-Matter", rather than solving questions of Religious beliefs & Energy Alternative, if it falls in Wrong Hands what will happen? Scientist who will work on "Anti-Matter" will not be remebered for good like marrie curie.-Carol Haynes (September 13, 2008, 05:25 AM)
Have you noticed that non-scientists never really ask questions like:
- Why bother putting on plays at the theatre (which hardly anyone goes to) or making films
- Why write a book (hardly anyone will read it)
- Why learn a foreign language (most of the world speaks English)
- Why compose a symphony (only a tiny minority listen to modern music)
- Why produce a painting (if its good it will be bought and locked away in a safe as an investment)
None of these things 'acheive' anything other than pleasure (with the possible exception of learning a language) and the amount of money spent (particularly on the first in the list) makes science budgets pale into insignificance.-Carol Haynes (September 12, 2008, 05:44 PM)
The debate over 'what constitutes a planet' is a fair question when there are large numbers of scientists world wid looking for evidence of planets orbiting other stars. I can't imagine 'considerable funds' were spent on the question - the scientists and amateur astronomers involved in the debate would have had the argument come what may. Interestingly astronomy is really the only remaining area of the sciences where total amateurs can make a full and important contribution to research. Not to mention SETI which allowed millions of non-scientists to contribute computer power.
Money burns in failure constantly in all walks of life ... just take a look at your local government budget?
If it comes to that anything that is ephemeral (such as any performance) could be considered a waste of resources but do we really want a world devoid of everything that isn't useful? I certainly don't.-Carol Haynes (September 13, 2008, 07:11 AM)