What is Digg?39 Comments
- xtothepowerofx, on 08/14/2008, -0/+34..."as curious as it sounds, they operate at about 9 volts - the same voltage as a smoke-detector battery. But because the magnets have been cooled almost to absolute zero and have become superconductors, a small voltage can drive an enormous current of 12,000 amps."
V=IR
9/12000 = 7.5 e-4 ohms... 0.00075 ohms... :O
thats nuts.. they cool the magnets to about 2 degrees shy of absolute zero!
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/st ... - sk11, on 08/14/2008, -0/+22You're friend must be terrified of meteors, how does he cope with that?
- zyklon, on 08/14/2008, -4/+24My friend is a very firm believer that CERN will destroy the planet. He spends half our conversations talking about a black hole opening up and swallowing us all. I have no words for that level of stupidity, except for "If it happens, oops."
- syxxness, on 08/13/2008, -0/+20I would love to see that thing in person.
- shotgunefx, on 08/14/2008, -4/+15Personally, I'm not that worried about it, BUT, I hardly think being concerned about the possibility (however remote) that something could destroy the entire planet makes someone stupid.
It is theoretical physics after all, they have no certainty on what will happen. Also, it's not like some physicists have not expressed doubts.
I don't think Teller was "stupid" for worrying the A-Bomb might possibly ignite the atmosphere. He was obviously wrong, but when you're talking world ending scenarios, I don't think caution is unwarranted. - Tsela, on 08/14/2008, -0/+10If the Standard Model is correct, they do. There's been enough simulation going on to know what kind of results such collisions will create. That's basically why the LHC has been built: to test whether the Standard Model of quantum mechanics is correct by comparing simulations with actual experiments. So while the scientists basically know what will happen if the models they use are correct, it would be more interesting if what happened was completely different :) ,
- LiveeviL, on 08/14/2008, -0/+8"It wont destroy the planet, and you can quote me on that"
- Penn Jilette - byronm, on 08/14/2008, -1/+9So this thing was turned on recently, where is any of the news? Was the turn on a success? How long before the science kicks in? Believe me, i understand its a huge effort and lots of tweaking/calibration may be necessary but i'm ANXIOUS.
- _jinx_, on 08/14/2008, -1/+7"It sounds to me.., like a Neanderthal approach to science..akin to smashing clocks together to discern there internal workings"
But on a more serious note not being a physicist at heart, do they actually know what will happen when they collide? - scabbers, on 08/14/2008, -0/+5I don't know how you can say that. Although I will admit that the possibility of a resonance cascade scenario is extremely unlikely.
- paidhima, on 08/14/2008, -0/+5It's all fun and games until the resonance cascade scenario. Then you need a crowbar, an HEV suit and some thick, thick glasses.
- jamesdew, on 08/14/2008, -0/+4yes
/sarcasm - Janv1er, on 08/14/2008, -0/+3Yeah, two bros from 1903..
- maesterxen, on 08/14/2008, -0/+3It has had many tests of individual sections but not even an entire run through of the whole circuit, especially not any collisions. The first full run through, when the first particle will travel the entire 27kilometers/17miles is happening on September 10, after that is when they'll start to collide particles. I think that they wont be getting any major results until later this year/early next year after they have had collisions at full speed.
- rawrzzz, on 08/14/2008, -0/+3What if the big bang was caused by humans, like this? Then, time just starts over again, and everything happens again. Lol, paradox :D
- encore0518, on 08/14/2008, -0/+3Oh great, mini black holes. Great thing to screw around with.
- sagenhoney, on 08/14/2008, -1/+4From the original site (pic13):
"Such a small black hole, according to CERN, would decay instantly to various particles via a process known as Hawking radiation.
After clicking on "Hawking radiation" it brings me to WIki where it states:
"black holes should have a finite, non-zero temperature and entropy."... "that according to the quantum mechanical uncertainty principle, rotating black holes should create and emit particles."
There are a lot of "shoulds" in this case, and personally it all may work out fine..or not at all BUT....I don't think it is wise to play with things that "could" become out of your control. When it comes to nature vs. man - I'm gonna put my bet on Nature.
I know there are many doomsayers out there - but honestly...for such a magnificent experiment...this topic has been very quiet. - megamod, on 08/14/2008, -0/+3Well, they didn't want to freak out anyone so they haven't released the information they discovered. They created a small black hole that is slowly eating at the earth around it and it seem to be getting uncontrollably larger and larger...hey you asked for the news.
- VivaCalligula, on 08/14/2008, -1/+4Did you read the article? "...experiments scheduled to begin on September 10."
- Vosona, on 08/14/2008, -0/+2Why not fire the thing up? It's not like we'll care if it ends up blowing up the earth or whatever. *****, we all gotta die sometime anyway.
- CATSCEO2, on 08/14/2008, -0/+2Yes, I'm sure there are a few people here that would bury me because they thought I actually believed in the black hole thing.
- Arkz, on 08/14/2008, -1/+3is the /sarcasm really necessary?
- Acglaphotis, on 08/14/2008, -0/+2Yeah, the wright brothers and their army of phycisists right?
- winmywii, on 08/14/2008, -1/+2They probably have a pretty good idea.
- steveoco, on 08/14/2008, -0/+1Yes, but that is what I mean, I remember it was May, then June, then July, then August, and now September.
- xtothepowerofx, on 08/14/2008, -0/+1there are apparently people who seriously think we are all going to die...
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/27/ ... - Innisskillin, on 08/14/2008, -1/+2We know less about black holes today then the Wright brothers knew about flying over 100 years ago.
- Spoomeister, on 08/14/2008, -0/+1WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE
- benjorino, on 08/14/2008, -1/+2I've been there and seen some of the tube being tested, and seen the place where the protons are 'created' and the linear accelerator (Linac2) that feeds into the larger accelerators and then into the LHC, but unfortunately by the time I went (June this year) they were too far into the final stages to permit our group to go undeground and see any of the huge detectors :(
Got myself a kickass CERN watch though - InsaneOni, on 08/14/2008, -0/+1No, it's stupid because the same theory that says that small black holes could be created, also stipulates that they would have an infinitesimally short life, thus making them unable to grow.
- Spider27, on 08/14/2008, -1/+1So technical!
"The result is likely to push forward theories of particle physics and the fundamental building blocks of all THINGS." - shotgunefx, on 08/14/2008, -1/+1@insaneoni
Is it?
Granted this is from wikipedia, and granted I am far from a physicist
"Smaller micro black holes (MBHs) are currently predicted by theory to be larger net emitters of radiation than larger black holes, and to shrink and evaporate faster."
...
However, the existence of Hawking radiation has never been observed, nor are there currently viable experimental tests that would allow it to be observed. Hence there is still some theoretical dispute over whether Hawking radiation actually exists"
That's not exactly hard evidence. It's not like theories (especially relatively new ones) haven't been wrong countless times in the history of science.
The difference is, if they are by chance wrong on that note, the world maybe ends, as opposed to having to rework models to fit new observations.
What if they don't radiate as quickly as thought and actually gain mass? - scarwars, on 08/14/2008, -1/+1i'll digg you up because that'll make me feel intelligent
- Innisskillin, on 08/14/2008, -3/+1I hope they know what they are doing. The Wright brothers thought they knew on their first try too.
- xtothepowerofx, on 08/14/2008, -3/+0dugg up in turn for making ME feel smarter :)
- steveoco, on 08/14/2008, -4/+1Any results yet? It seems like the first test was every next day... anyone have an update?
- CATSCEO2, on 08/14/2008, -8/+4We're all gonna die!
/sarcasm - Erythroxylum, on 08/14/2008, -5/+1Notwithstanding the fact that the theorised black holes that some people have alleged that this will cause are tiny, micro-black holes which behave entirely differently to the massive, super-nova-sized ones which swallow planets and so on, it'll be nice to know that if something does go wrong, France will be the first thing to be turned into Bekenstein-Hawking Radiation.
'Zut alors! Ze apocalypse! I av wasted ma life drinking wine and raping ma mother!' - warsongs7, on 08/14/2008, -6/+1NUCLEAR RESEARCH???? QUICK! Apply sanctions and pull out the old propaganda tricks, we need to put a stop to this.
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