Collider Debut

[Evolved]

MEYRIN, Switzerland (AP) -- The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.

This collider, called the largest scientific experiment in history, is expected to begin test runs in August.

 But some critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists' wildest conjectures: Will it spawn a black hole that could swallow Earth?

Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/30/doomsdaycollider.ap/index.html

What an awesome machine.  I am really excited to see what they can learn with this amazing instrument.  This demonstrates the power of the collective scientific mind.

A mini black hole would make a great outbox!  I want one for my desk.

[leftyguitarjoe]

The tiny black holes are 100% safe. Black holes evaporate, ant the little opnes will likely last only a few nanoseconds.

I've been waiting for the Large Hadron Collider to be done for a while.

Know what this means?

We will be able to produce collisions with enough energy to observe particles such as the Higgs Boson or the Graviton.

I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!

BTW, I'm sorry if what I said is in the article, for I haven't read it yet XD

[McQ]

It's judgment day, I tell ya'!  

What I like are the answers to the concerns and questions about the safety of the Collider:

"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans.
David Francis, a physicist on the collider's huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer particles known as strangelets.
"If I thought that this was going to happen, I would be well away from here," he said.

Yeah, he's gonna move to a safe distance away. Like Mars. Nice. LOL!

Hey look, if the damn thing destroys the Earth, what are we going to care, or even know? Of course it's safe, but if it's not, we're not really going to be in any state to worry about it now, are we?

[leftyguitarjoe]

It's judgment day, I tell ya'!  

What I like are the answers to the concerns and questions about the safety of the Collider:

"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans.
David Francis, a physicist on the collider's huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer particles known as strangelets.
"If I thought that this was going to happen, I would be well away from here," he said.

Yeah, he's gonna move to a safe distance away. Like Mars. Nice. LOL!

Hey look, if the damn thing destroys the Earth, what are we going to care, or even know? Of course it's safe, but if it's not, we're not really going to be in any state to worry about it now, are we?

Exactly dude!!!

Oh, for those of you who want to look into the whole black hole evaporation thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation

[crocofish]

A couple of years ago, I worked with a nuclear physicist who was working on the LHC.  The project I was working on with him was unrelated, but he was traveling to CERN in Switzerland periodically.  His expertise was in the detector instruments and processing, the part that would detect the Higgs boson and other particles predicted to exist but not seen yet.  He was a bit disappointed in the LHC because it was originally supposed to be larger with more energy, but it was scaled down for budgetary reasons.

I'm not a particle physicist, but he explained to me that the smaller collider can still generate the particles that they are looking for, but with a much lower statistical probability than a more energetic collider.  The lower probability means that they have to process many more collisions since fewer of the desired particles would be generated.  If they don't see the desired particles, it is harder to determine whether the particles don't exist or if they just did not do enough collisions.

He never mentioned anything about mini black holes.

[leftyguitarjoe]

A couple of years ago, I worked with a nuclear physicist who was working on the LHC.  The project I was working on with him was unrelated, but he was traveling to CERN in Switzerland periodically.  His expertise was in the detector instruments and processing, the part that would detect the Higgs boson and other particles predicted to exist but not seen yet.  He was a bit disappointed in the LHC because it was originally supposed to be larger with more energy, but it was scaled down for budgetary reasons.

I'm not a particle physicist, but he explained to me that the smaller collider can still generate the particles that they are looking for, but with a much lower statistical probability than a more energetic collider.  The lower probability means that they have to process many more collisions since fewer of the desired particles would be generated.  If they don't see the desired particles, it is harder to determine whether the particles don't exist or if they just did not do enough collisions.

He never mentioned anything about mini black holes.

You are a scientist?
I plan to be one after a few years of college. What do you specialize in?

[crocofish]

You are a scientist?
I plan to be one after a few years of college. What do you specialize in?

Actually, I'm not a scientist; I'm an engineer. The two fields are related, but different.  I spend less time chasing theoretical ideas and doing research, and more time implementing real things.  When I was working with the physicist, I was designing some digital hardware for a positron emission detector/processor.  Sounds more impressive than it really was.

When I was in high school, I thought I was going to be a biologist, leaning toward genetics.  But I realized that I like making things, and went into engineering in college.  I started in biomedical engineering, but that was still too research oriented, so I switched to electrical engineering.  I spend most of my time designing specialized digital systems, hardware and software.  I have always loved science, and still try to absorb as much as I can from all the difference disciplines.

[leftyguitarjoe]

You are a scientist?
I plan to be one after a few years of college. What do you specialize in?

Actually, I'm not a scientist; I'm an engineer. The two fields are related, but different.  I spend less time chasing theoretical ideas and doing research, and more time implementing real things.  When I was working with the physicist, I was designing some digital hardware for a positron emission detector/processor.  Sounds more impressive than it really was.

When I was in high school, I thought I was going to be a biologist, leaning toward genetics.  But I realized that I like making things, and went into engineering in college.  I started in biomedical engineering, but that was still too research oriented, so I switched to electrical engineering.  I spend most of my time designing specialized digital systems, hardware and software.  I have always loved science, and still try to absorb as much as I can from all the difference disciplines.

aah ok. I was leaning toward electrical engineering myself, but I realized that I preferred to find out WHY stuff did what it did, rather than implement it.