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138 Comments
- cococooky, on 07/24/2008, -1/+57No.
- mojoe1185, on 07/25/2008, -0/+41So what your saying is, there's a chance.....
-Dumb and Dumber - DelayedEraser, on 07/24/2008, -2/+31no, you're missing the whole point... they AREN'T QUITE ZERO (we're talking infinitesimal numbers here, not to mention the fact that in quantum physics everything has non-zero odds) and that's why physicists are obligated to say "yes, it is possible", and that's what the general public misunderstands and is frightened by.
- highPhone, on 07/24/2008, -8/+32My Large Hardon Collider is known as the world's second largest particle accelerator. These pink holes swallow alpha particles emitted by the Hardon Collider during cosmic gyrations at astronomic rates.
Scientists have yet to understand the true nature of collisions at the bottom of pink holes. Michio Kaku, renowned physicist and futurist, speculates that the Hardon will grow to 10 times its size, possibly within our lifetime. - Trancers, on 07/25/2008, -1/+19We'll be fine, as long as no one divides by zero.
- Phylodome, on 07/25/2008, -3/+21General Public = Baaaaaaaa
- chompapotamus, on 07/25/2008, -0/+18but can it compete with the amazing 8lb Oreck?
- Pissoff, on 07/24/2008, -1/+17That's cool, just stay away from the brown holes.
- terajoule, on 07/25/2008, -0/+15They're waiting for you, Gordon. In the test chamber!
- FaithclubDotNet, on 07/25/2008, -0/+14Maybe if they create an alternate dimension where c=Em^2
- samyoungguitar, on 07/25/2008, -0/+13Who cares.. it's not like we'll even know it.
- ultraJesus, on 07/25/2008, -0/+12If that happens I'm just going to stay in bed.
- SevenTwo, on 07/25/2008, -0/+11As if the possible destruction of earth isn't bad news enough you had to go and bring up Spiderman 2.
- Orion1004, on 07/24/2008, -4/+14Yeah, like the odds are ZERO!
- inactive, on 07/25/2008, -0/+9http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/dmb ...
- floridiot2, on 07/25/2008, -0/+8Wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?
- gamer3999, on 07/25/2008, -1/+9The collisions in the LHC are the same as particles that hit our atmosphere, and I don't see any black holes swallowing us up there.
- spoodigity, on 07/25/2008, -1/+9WE'RE ALL SCREWED! EVERYONE PANIC!
- frankdozier, on 08/10/2009, -0/+8It's too bad that the only way such a potentially great scientific undertaking can make the news is with the threat of total destruction. The possibilities that can be achieved from such research is astronomical in scope, yet the only thing people care about it is the possibility of the end of existence. The fear of death permeates so far into the collective subconscious of our species that we cannot even wish to explore the unknown without somebody wanting to file suit. Pretty sad.
- Shogi, on 07/25/2008, -1/+8How many times are we going to read about the LHC destroying us all?
Does digg need a new category for "LHC might destroy Earth"? - TexasCanuck, on 07/25/2008, -1/+8Good lord. Scientific FUD...
Relax folks. The colliders don't act on enough mass to create a life-ending black-hole, even in the extreme case one is created.
Even if a black hole was created, it would be so incredibly small it would evaporate nanoseconds after creation. - KLowD9x, on 07/25/2008, -0/+7Yes, fusion is...somewhat...how hydrogen bombs work. You know, there is also a standard fission bomb fueling the fusion reaction in a hydrogen bomb.
In a fusion reactor, as soon as the plasma becomes unstable and hits a cool spot, the reaction stops. It's not even possible to have a "meltdown". - inactive, on 07/25/2008, -0/+7and sex with himself doesn't count
- Murdats, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6radio waves is how microwaves work, heat is how people are burned, light is how people are blinded, or melted, electricity is how lightning works.
just because they share the same underlying principle doesnt mean they have to have the same result - wonderbriefs, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6Lightspeed being equivalent to energy times mass squared?
I think that would result in light that has a variable speed dependent on the amount of it there is. Like, bright = fast and dim = slow.
Now I get it. - Phylodome, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6I'm much more worried about the "extremely short odds against the destruction of human life on Earth"
LHC is not going to do anything other than what it's intended to do, get over the hype and focus on issues of importance. - mojoe1185, on 07/25/2008, -0/+6Sorry
- wc3452, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6YOU'RE*
- floridiot2, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6uhh i think you butchered that one.
- mecharabbit, on 07/25/2008, -1/+6I know the article says that the exact odds can't be calculated, but why don't the scientists just throw out some made-up number, like 1 in 10 to the gazillionth power, just to ease everbody's minds? I would believe them if I didn't any know better.
- inactive, on 07/25/2008, -5/+10Guys there's nothing to worry about, as scientists have explained there is more chance of MrBabyMan having sex than this thing swallowing the world...
- rallythanks, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4So when it is going online? Or is this being kept a secret also?
- KLowD9x, on 07/25/2008, -2/+6I don't see how perfectly safe fusion power worries you more than the incredibly small possibility of the destruction of earth.
- St0neman, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4I'm waiting for Dr. Who to arrive.
- scabbers, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4Let's put it this way: if anything is going to destroy the earth, 18 miles of super-conducting magnets will need to be involved somehow.
Strangelets ftw.
P.S. this is the 30,000th incarnation of this story to hit the front page. - inactive, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4UNIVERSE DESTROYED
- junkwheel, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4I think if it does turn the earth into a black hole then the entire earth will be recreated on the other side of space time.
But we wont even know. - inactive, on 07/25/2008, -0/+4They would evaporate way before growing to large enough size and endanger earth.
- Fallenshadow, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3It will create black holes with the same gravitational potential as a dust particle, considering the environment in which these black holes will be created (the average level of densities here on Earth) and the lifespan of such a small black hole, very unlikely these black holes will be able to keep themselves fed. If these dust sized black holes were born in an extremely dense environment perhaps then, and only then, could a black hole of that size keep itself fed to overcome such a short lifespan. But of course, I have never seen a black hole and I cannot claim to know everything about them.
- inactive, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3find a happy place...find a happy place.
- inactive, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4Long odds are long.....
Better chance that all life on earth will be irradiated by an unforeseen supernova in our galaxy. - InvisibleInk, on 07/24/2008, -5/+8I hope it happens quickly. I'd rather not have any warning.
In any case, the massive ITER tokamak fusion reactor being built in France worries me a lot more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER - evilcaptain, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Ok bear with me :)
What was the Big Bang? It was a singularity.
What are the boffins at the LHC trying to make? Singularities.
Could the massive space-time expansion in the first few instants of the Big Bang have pushed any existing matter beyond the range for its light to reach the earth yet. Further to this, maybe the Dark Matter we've been after all these years is simply that matter which existed from previous Big Bangs pushed farther than its light has penetrated since the Big Bang.
Going on with this, probably loony, hypothesis.
Maybe the cause of each Big Bang is the LHC or something equivalent designed by intellegent beings like us. Perhaps Life is inevitable, and has built up again and again only to destroy itself taking the whole of known space with it.
one more ;)
The Outer Shell Matter, which might be billions of Big Bangs in mass, would distort the universe so much that it would appear as if it was accelerating. Could this hypothetical Shell counteract any of the effects of the gravity in our local visible Universe changing its interrelationship between its galaxies, stars and planets.
I feel I'm missing something obvious that would rule this out :(
Otherwise, someone stop the Boffins! :) - klitzbtc, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3We should probably first be more concerned about the possibility of blowing each other up. Seems about 100x more probable.
Maybe someone can explain the physics of this to me, but I don't see how a LHC can create something dense enough to sustain a blackhole powerful enough/long enough to cause catastrophic damage. - eliot2000, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3I saw one of these miniature black holes in wal-mart the other day, in the pet food section by where the cat treats are. There were some Tast-ee-treats that were pretty close to the event horizon, so I scooched them over a bit, so it wouldn't swallow them up and expand. Before the LHC I never saw phenomena like that around town.
- WhiskeyLemur, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Scientific research is our only hope for ever getting off this planet. If we remain chained to the Earth, the probability of our extinction is 1 (as in, 100%, guaranteed: no ifs, and or buts). Compared to that, 1/infinity begins to sound pretty damn fine.
- Draculecom, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3No it won't.
Bummer. - IG64, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3Well that's comforti-
- kitsua, on 07/25/2008, -0/+3@mecharabbitmecharabbit - making stuff up is precisely what they are not trying to do - there's no room for willful obfuscation here, things are too mind-bendingly odd as it is. Why should scientists have to lie about the truth just to make something easier to understand or to appease the minds of people who are too lazy to even acknowledge that quantum physics is actually quite complicated.
If someone is worried about it, then they are simply not intelligent enough for their opinion to have any bearing on the matter. People once believed that if a human body traveled at speeds greater than 30mph they would be crushed by kinetic forces. The same applies here.
The journos write about it because it's a great story, but anyone who just hears the Armageddon nonsense on the telly and then frets about it without discovering for themselves that it is hokum deserves the high blood pressure, IMO. - minkusingh, on 07/25/2008, -1/+4Large Hard-On Collider...wondering...hmm...
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