Posted on 06/18/2008 7:53:42 AM PDT by 444Flyer
The world's largest particle collider is designed to do its job largely under the surface-and that under-the-surface status also applies to much of the progress in the legal case challenging whether the collider should actually be allowed to do its job.
(Excerpt) Read more at cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com ...
I think the “Steel Curtain” was better than “Doomsday.”
Oh, I thought this was about great 70s NFL defensive units.
Well, if the black hole appears, then I won’t have to repay that $100 I owe my bro-in-law.
Is it possible, it can open a doorway to another demension?
Black holes are not the problem. It’s the SIZE of the black hole that is the problem.
If a black hole opens I should get my ex-wife a job there!
I’m not a scientist either and maybe it does require some further looks but not in Hawaii. The plaintiffs here are attempting to rope in CERN through a past subcontractor (the U.S. companies) and thereby obtain and enforce some U.S. judgment abroad. Plaintiff has done some forum shopping.
No danger exists. This story is pure hype. First, the energies expended by the LHC are something like an order of magnitude less than those needed to create a microsingularity (aka a “mini black hole”). Second, once created, a microsingularity would immediately dissipate its mass into energy and vanish due to a quantum-mechanical effect called Hawking radiation. The smaller the ‘hole”, the faster this dissipation takes place. Third, even if a stable microsingularity could be created by the LHC, it would still retain an electrical charge, and could be manipulated and controlled using suitable electrical fields, so no danger to the Earth would exist.
If this opens a gateway to another dimension, I say we throw all the Democrats in there!
Let’s be honest, would anybody actually miss them all that much??
Easy for YOU to say. ;)
“I’m not a scientist, but even the remotest possibility of creating ‘...world-gobbling black holes..’ is worth a second examination before they flip the ‘on’ switch.”
Thing is, there is not even a shred of a remote possibility of this happening. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Less than that, even.
Short version: A black whole does not magically have more mass than that from which it formed. It’s that whole “conservation of mass” thing. Collapse a star down into a black hole, and it will have the mass of the star. Collapse a 10kg weight into a black hole, and it will have 10kg of mass, and it will effect everything around it the EXACT same way as that 10kg weight would. With the collider, you MIGHT collapse a couple protons into a micro black hole. That black hole will have the same mass AND THE SAME EFFECT ON EVERYTHING AROUND IT as those couple of protons. In other words, NONE.
Also, black holes “evaporate,” lasting a period of time that is inversely proportional to their mass. A black hole made from a couple protons would lass less than a few nanoseconds.
The problem is that people who don’t know squat about science see the word “black hole” and freak out. They think the term means some huge star gobbling thing like you see in the movies. It doesn’t — it refers to a particular set of physical conditions that can be described mathematically. The big ones are star gobbling monsters, but that’s because they are formed from huge star gobblingly massive stars. The micro ones aren’t anything like that, if they exist at all.
This is simple ignorance coupled with (in many cases) stupidity in that those people are unwilling to be educated to cure their ignorance. (Not directed at you, but rather at the dunces pursuing this case.)
I dunno - I’m not fond of the idea of being sucked into an alternate universe where the U.S. can win a war and everybody in the media just puts their hands over their ears and pretends we lost so they won’t have to say they were wrong...oh, wait a minute...
“black whole” should be “black hole” PIMF
This story is pure hype
Thank you very much. However, you have to remember that there is a dollar to be made here from exploiting people like me who lack a background in physics.
I disagree. I think it's more about the LOCATION.
Wouldn't that be directly proportional to their mass? Small mass, little time; Large mass, long time?
I appreciate your confidence. Please note, however, that I am uneducated (I don’t even have a college degree) and am all too capable of getting fudged up myself when it comes to physics. Good thing we have some real brains here on FR to straighten the rest of us out!
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