Omg There Gonna Destroy The World!

[Yazu]

OK, I recently read an article on the internet about a bunch of scientist on based in Geneva who has created a machine which can, in theory, could re-create the big bang. The experiment will begin on the 27th of November 2007.

The machine that will create this miniature bug bang is known as a Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider or RHIC. Inside the collider, atoms of gold will be stripped of their outer electrons and pumped into one of two 2.4-mile circular tubes where several of the most powerful magnets in existence will accelerate them to 99.9% of the speed of light.

 

The ions in the two tubes will travel in opposite directions to increase the power of the collisions. When these ions smash into each other, at one of several intersections between the tubes, they will generate minuscule fireballs of super dense matter with temperatures of about a trillion degrees - 10,000 times hotter than the sun. Such conditions are thought not to have existed (except possibly according to one theory in the heart of some dense stars) since the Big Bang that formed the universe between 12 billion and 15 billion years ago.

 

Under such conditions atomic nuclei evaporate into plasma of even smaller particles called quarks and gluons. Theoretical as well as some experimental evidence predicts that such plasma would then emit a shower of other different particles as it cooled down. These particles would, in theory, be the same as those that existed at the birth of the universe and would give scientists a better understanding of how things work.

 

Among the particles predicted to appear during this cooling are strange quarks. These have been detected in other accelerators but always attached to other particles. RHIC, the most powerful such machine yet built, has the ability to create solitary strange quarks for the first time since the universe began.

 

My worry is that such a machine, with the power to recreate what in theory began the entire universe, may cause come kind of catastrophic event. One theory is that the RHIC could create "perturbations of the universe" that could create a black hole and possibly suck the entire word into it.

 

John Marburger, the director of one of Americas foremost research bodies, set up a committee of physicists to investigate whether the project could go disastrously wrong. It followed warnings by other physicists that there was a tiny but real risk that the machine, the most powerful of its kind in the world, had the power to create "strangelets" which are a new type of matter made up of sub-atomic particles called "strange quarks".

 

The committee is to examine the possibility that once formed, strangelets might start an uncontrollable chain reaction that could convert anything they touched into more strange matter. The committee will also consider an alternative, although less likely, possibility that the colliding particles could achieve such a high density that they would form a mini black hole. In space, black holes are believed to generate intense gravitational fields that suck in all surrounding matter. The creation of one on Earth could be extremely disastrous, and could in theory suck the entire earth into it.

 

Professor Bob Jaffe, director of the Centre for Theoretical Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is on the committee, said he believed the risk was tiny but could not be ruled out. "There have been fears that strange matter could alter the structure of anything nearby. The risk is exceedingly small but the probability of something unusual happening is not by any means zero."

 

My question is, is it worth it? The experiment may go without a hitch and could possibly bring us closer to fully understanding the way the universe works. Or it could have disastrous consequences, threw the creation of black holes, strange matter or even by opening doors to other dimensions which are now invisible to us. I can’t see how any of these scientists have the right to endanger the lives of every animal on this planet just to try and satisfy curiosity. It very well saying the risks is small, but once it happens there is no going back. What are your opinions on this? Do you think it’s worth possibly destroying the planet to possibly understanding the universe?

[MolotovCocktail]

Well, cosmic rays hit the Earth with more energy than any particle accelerator that has been created to date, so no, I don't think we would destroy the universe with the RHIC

[ecoli]

You need to get your facts straight.

 

RHIC is a particle accelerator at the Brookhaven National Laboratories, which is on Long Island, New York. They've been colliding gold atoms since 2000.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_Heavy_Ion_Collider

 

You should pay particular attention to this part: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_Heavy_Ion_Collider#Fears_among_the_public

 

The accelerator you are probably thinking about is called the LHC, which stands for Large Hadron Collider, which is currently under construction in CERN (center for research nuclear - it makes sense in French) which is located outside of Geneva, Switzerland. It should be completed in 2008.

 

regarding safety at the LHC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider#Safety_concerns

[Yazu]

yes the one I was talking about is the one near geneva. It is apparantly more advanced then the one on long island and is the only machine which is designed to 're-create a big bang'. The machine was completed in 2005 and this was meant to go ahead in 2006. But somebody screwed up the math and it caused an explosion. That explosion set them back a year. Now its up ad running again and apparantly according to the all the different articles I have read on the RHIC, it will be turned on for the first time on November 27th 2007 and will be left running for about a year. To check my 'facts' just google 'big bang machine'.

[insane_alien]

you mean you don't have black-hole insurance yet? i can sell you some for a mere £500.

 

***kicks the insurance salesman out of his house***

 

if these were going to happen they would have happened naturally already. by the time we can shove more energy than nature can into a particle then we can wonder about what happens.

[ecoli]

yes the one I was talking about is the one near geneva. It is apparantly more advanced then the one on long island and is the only machine which is designed to 're-create a big bang'. The machine was completed in 2005 and this was meant to go ahead in 2006. But somebody screwed up the math and it caused an explosion. That explosion set them back a year. Now its up ad running again and apparantly according to the all the different articles I have read on the RHIC, it will be turned on for the first time on November 27th 2007 and will be left running for about a year. To check my 'facts' just google 'big bang machine'.

 

please post your source.

[Klaynos]

Anything of this sort created by a collider will be so amazingly short lived we can't comprehend the time scale.

[Rocket Man]

speaking of insurance, i'll place my bets on conservation of energy.

so far, nothing has come close to producing more energy than is put in. i doubt the LHC can break that rule.

[ajb]

I am very exited about the LHC, it should show us new physics; the Higgs particle(s) and supersymmetry.

 

As for the balck holes, they would be very small and so evapourate very quickly with no harmful effects to the world. They would appear as exotic particles.

 

Don't worry about it.

[MolotovCocktail]

I am very exited about the LHC, it should show us new physics; the Higgs particle(s) and supersymmetry.

 

Certainly some new physics, though we won't know for sure what we will find once it goes online in November.

[Yazu]

My sourses are http://www.wisdomofsolomon.com/bigbang.html, http://discovermagazine.com/2007/feb/cover and there is one more which i cant find...sorry

[grifter]

CERN is Fantastic, I can certainly recommend it, I have now visited three times, I just can't get enough of those muon Detectors

About the only possible cause for concern is the residual radiation, it will mean that for the period during the experiment and for a little while afterwords, the immediate area will become un-manned. What's all this talk of black holes? I think you may have the wrong end of the proverbial universe stick...

 

Anyway, CERN is definitely worth the trip over to Geneva, but go quickly, as in the not-to-distant future they will complete the LHC (Large Hadron Collider.) and that means curtains for the visit!

[grifter]

Right; I've just checked out one of your sources :

http://www.wisdomofsolomon.com/bigbang.html

 

The websites opening statemnt is:

 

Enter the Realms

of Expanded Consciousness &

Metaphysical Studies. . .

 

the author describes himself as

 

Paul Solomon

Friend and Mentor

World Teacher of Spiritual Studies

 

please dont post your random thoughts (and those of others) based on nothing but some guys over-active conspiracy gene...

 

never-the-less: the site quotes John Nelson as saying:

The big question is whether the planet will disappear in the twinkling of an eye. It is astonishingly unlikely that there is any risk - but I could not prove it

 

 

this is like me saying :

 

The big question is whether tonight we will be consumed by a black hole created by my cat. It is astonishingly unlikely that there is any risk - but I could not prove it