Hadron Collider - new energy record.

[ZenOps]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/

Getting closer and closer to creating or destroying the "God" particle. Now has higher energy density than a fission/fusion nuclear bomb.

My question is: Are these scientists absolutely sure that they aren't going to screw us all over? One was quoted as saying the chances of creating something that would start armageddon (uncontrollable black hole of significant mass) is something like 0.0014%. Still, playing any odds against complete armageddon seems risky to me.

When they tested the fission/fusion bomb, it was expected to only be 6 Megatons - they got 15 Megatons because none of the "scientific experts" expected Deuterium-7 to actually be able to be fissionable (they expected only the Deuterium-6 to fission)

[Wild Bill]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/

Getting closer and closer to creating or destroying the "God" particle. Now has higher energy density than a fission/fusion nuclear bomb.

My question is: Are these scientists absolutely sure that they aren't going to screw us all over? One was quoted as saying the chances of creating something that would start armageddon (uncontrollable black hole of significant mass) is something like 0.0014%. Still, playing any odds against complete armageddon seems risky to me.

When they tested the fission/fusion bomb, it was expected to only be 6 Megatons - they got 15 Megatons because none of the "scientific experts" expected Deuterium-7 to actually be able to be fissionable (they expected only the Deuterium-6 to fission)

I wouldn't be too worried. We're not talking pounds of material being slammed together, only a few sub atomic particles. This happens every so often anyway, just by random chance. So far we haven't seen stars blowing up all around us and black holes being more common than regular stars.

We're not doing anything new here. We're just making it happen in a manner and at a time when we can observe it. It's like making a wave machine in a lab to study tsunamis. There are an infinite number of waves happening all the time around the oceans. If we make a tsunami in a lab should it suddenly break free, run out the door and wash away Boise, Idaho?

[DogOnPorch]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/

Getting closer and closer to creating or destroying the "God" particle. Now has higher energy density than a fission/fusion nuclear bomb.

My question is: Are these scientists absolutely sure that they aren't going to screw us all over? One was quoted as saying the chances of creating something that would start armageddon (uncontrollable black hole of significant mass) is something like 0.0014%. Still, playing any odds against complete armageddon seems risky to me.

When they tested the fission/fusion bomb, it was expected to only be 6 Megatons - they got 15 Megatons because none of the "scientific experts" expected Deuterium-7 to actually be able to be fissionable (they expected only the Deuterium-6 to fission)

Best do a quick read on Hawking radiation.

[ZenOps]

Best do a quick read on Hawking radiation.

Thats exactly my point. There are supposedly real definiable limits on this thing.

"As an example, a black hole of one solar mass has a temperature of only 60 nanokelvin; in fact, such a black hole would absorb far more cosmic microwave background radiation than it emits. A black hole of 4.5 × 1022 kg (about the mass of the Moon) would be in equilibrium at 2.7 kelvin, absorbing as much radiation as it emits."

Ok fine. So the scientists say we will not even come close to 1/100th of that energy level/density. But what if - and noone can truely know for sure since this is supposed to be "expermental" science where even the scientist don't know for sure what will come of it. "Someone forgot to carry the 1"

And does this just pave the way, for 50 years from now when someone builds a Hadron Collider V2.0, where they can achieve these levels, and then say the chances of blowing up the world accidentally move to 1.4% Is it still a worthwhile endeavor?

"There's something very important I forgot to tell you. Don't cross the streams… It would be bad… Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light." Fictional quote Ghostbusters.

Edited December 10, 2009 by ZenOps

[bush_cheney2004]

...."There's something very important I forgot to tell you. Don't cross the streams… It would be bad… Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light." Fictional quote Ghostbusters.

Great film...often quoted. But if you recall, that line setup an ending that required the Ghostbusters to cross their Proton Pack streams to save New York from a collossal Stay-Puft marshmallow man.

[DogOnPorch]

Thats exactly my point. There are supposedly real definiable limits on this thing.

"As an example, a black hole of one solar mass has a temperature of only 60 nanokelvin...

Massive black holes seem to power galaxies...I wouldn't be too upset by whatever we happen upon here on Earth. Small potatoes.

[Wild Bill]

And does this just pave the way, for 50 years from now when someone builds a Hadron Collider V2.0, where they can achieve these levels, and then say the chances of blowing up the world accidentally move to 1.4% Is it still a worthwhile endeavor?

I repeat, we are talking about a handful of particles colliding here. It happens and has happened naturally all the time in the Universe at large and so far it's still here.

This is not the Omega Particle from Star Trek Voyager...