Large Hadron Earth Exploder?

clarinetJWD

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Here's a simple way to check if CERN's Large Hadron Collider has caused the world to end yet.

For those of you who don't know, CERN (European physics conglomerate) powered on the 17 mile long, 12+ years in construction, 9 billion dollar Large Hadron Collider this morning. (A giant particle accelerator/collider)

After a couple minor power problems overnight, the main testing began this morning, and not only did everything go as planned, the tests went faster than anticipated. They have shot a particle both clockwise and counterclockwise, and will commense collisions in roughly 3 weeks.

The point of the project is to recreate at exceptionally small scale the reaction/forces that may have occured during and just after the Big Bang to better understand the scientific creation of the Universe. This has some people worried that it would create a black hole that would grow exponentially, and destroy the world, but according to CERN scientists: If the experiments done in the LHC were powerful enough to destroy the Earth, cosmic rays would have destroyed it time and time again before now.

Oh, and for those of us nerdy enough:
turn-on.png

Posted from XKCD under the Creative Commons License
(Hint: look up the 6 types of quarks)
 
I have to ask why they are bothering with this. Is it really worth spending that much time and money on a theory??

Yes yes it is. There are a wide variety of technologies available nowadays that rely on theories such as these having been proven out. Don't ask me for examples as while I have some I haven't read the data myself to be able to explain what exactly it is they use.
 
Yes yes it is. There are a wide variety of technologies available nowadays that rely on theories such as these having been proven out. Don't ask me for examples as while I have some I haven't read the data myself to be able to explain what exactly it is they use.

but $9B?? Surely Mythbusters could have done it for less than that :lol:. I know the exsistence of the earth, how, when and why, is important and facinating, even to me, but what happens if these tests either 1. Fail 2. are inconclusive 3. destroys the planet or puts a massive crater in it. Where do the scientists go from there?? My only concern is that money is being poured into research like this, yet cancer councils around the world are begging for donations so that they can continue their own research into terminal deseases and illnesses. One poor girl in India even killed herself in fear of the earth blowing up due to these tests. Just misinformed I guess.

When I first saw this thread, at a glance, I thought it said Large hardon earth explorer.
 
I reckon we need to do a "war of the Worlds"

Do a film with a French reporter standing some way away from a hole in the ground, watching things slowly slide into it - cars, trucks etc etc.

Show it on CNN and stand back and watch the ensuing panic....
 
It's definitely worth it! Delving into new and exciting sciences is always a very expensive proposition, but without it we'd have no scientific understanding, and our technology would be at least decades, and perhaps more, behind by now.

Personally, I'm fascinated by this entire project, and can't wait for them to start smashing in a few weeks :D
 
What if they can great energy by particle collision? New renewable energy resources. The ability to make a propulsion system that can take us to another galaxy. The ability to make black holes that swallow the Earth.

Limitless possibilities.
 

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