I was just reading an amusing article by a friend and thought I'd share it here.
[url]The Large Hadron Collider — Apocalypse Now?[/url]
Over a hundred years ago, Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science set the title of one of 26 Bible Lessons which are studied daily as: "Is the universe, including man, evolved by atomic force?" I often think that people back then must have thought she was crazy, (I might be wrong but I don't think there was huge public knowledge of atoms) but now I can see what foresight she had.
One of her quotes in the article is:
Miscellaneous Writings, p. 173:[COLOR="Blue"]
Whence, then, is the atom or molecule called matter? Have attraction and cohesion formed it? But are these forces laws of matter, or laws of Mind? For matter to be matter, it must have been self-created.
To put people’s minds at rest, here is what some of the scientists on the project say:
[url] Could the Large Hadron Collider destroy Earth?[/url]
A study released last month disassembled the arguments against powering up the collider. The report found “no basis for concerns that [small] black holes from the LHC could pose a risk to Earth on timescales shorter than the Earth’s natural lifetime.” In other words: Yes, it could happen, but chances are the sun will burn out before this collider can have an Earth-ending mishap.Their reasoning? Slashdot puts it best: “Everything that will be created at the LHC is already being created by cosmic rays. If a black hole created by the LHC is interactive enough to destroy the world within the lifetime of the sun, similar black holes are already being created by cosmic rays.”
If such black holes were naturally flinging around in the universe, they would bump up against “dense cosmic objects,” such as neutron stars, and over time the black holes would swallow the star. But, from looking through telescopes we know that there are plenty of old neutron stars around. So, if it’s safe for them, it’s also safe for us. “Any black hole that could be created at the LHC, even if it is stable, would have no effect on the earth on any meaningful timescale,” Slashdot says.
Judy
i have just seen how much has been spent on this experment, is there not better things to spend this sort of money on these days all those who are starving in the world i am sure the results of this experment will be of great importance to them.
Well the switch on went ok. Typically the media hyped it up painting it with doom and gloom of a black hole sucking us all into non-existence.
The truth was that, in August they tested a proton beam in the LHC, but didn't send it all the way around the 27km circuit. Today was sending pulses of proton beam down it and making it go all the way around. So now they've done that, there is a beam of proton "packets" flying around at near light speed in a continuous circuit.
As this is just a single beam of packets flying around in one direction, nothing was going to happen anyway, so there was no case of "the end is nigh". The next step will be to introduce a beam of packets of protons flying the other way around it. Once that's down and there are two beams flying in opposite directions they can collide the beams together and detect what happens. Now that's when you can start predicting the end of civilisation. 😀
Yes, it has cost a lot of money to do, but that money has come from many many places and if it hadn't gone there, there's probably very little chance it would have gone to help starving people or any other good cause. Science is looking to answer some important questions and theories and this is the only way (they know of) that can do it.
All Love and Reiki Hugs
I hear that the scientists will be able to recreate what happened at the big bang and know more about what caused it.
Has anyone ever thought that the big bang might have been caused by some nut case scientist messing about with a LHC!!! :eeeK: afterall, no one knows what existed before the big bang do they.
I really hope these people know what they're messing with, although from what I've learned they don't really know what will happen, it's not very reassuring.
I don't know much about science but I do know the results of splitting an atom, God knows what effect this might have. It really gives me an uncomfortable feeling. I think that some scientists will try anything just to see the effects and hang the consequences, that's why they get called 'mad scientists'.
I really hope I'm over reacting here and the absolutely unthinkable doesn't happen. :hidesbehindsofa:
I was talking to my son today. He said the scientists expect the collision to occur in around four years.........2012!! More food for thought if that's true.