Recently on Yahoo I spotted this shocking and disturbing article that I feel should be debated about here. This is the original article I read: LHC Article basically, the LHC is the world's largest atom smasher. I'm no scientist so don't expect me to explain it all, though it is in the article, but in a nut shell, the article states that the usage of this machine can help scientists discover previously never before seen things. However, there is a small chance, about that of winning the mega millions lotto, that the machine could generate a black hole and swallow the Earth. Despite the small chance, it has skeptics worried and me sh*tting myself as they prepare to test it out in August. So the question is: Do you think the use of the machine is worth risking the destruction of the Earth? Basically, should they do it or not? Personally I'm freaking out at even the slightest chance of a black hole being created. The chances are small, but thousands of people have won the lotto, so it isn't impossible. I prefer they just continue to wonder about the things they might discover and put our planets safety ahead of science. Srsly. TURN OFF SIGS BTW!!! thanks XD
lolz, wtf, those crazy swiss/french, they fail. how about testing it at smaller scales 1st, though I bet they probably have. They should wait until December 21, 2012...
Turn off sig! pl0x. thanks XD and yea rofl, wait til then, I was gonna say that actually lol. Thatd be ironic... EDIT: Srsly, you edited your OP and now your second post has a sig. ZOMG lol...
whoops, i was going to, then forgot, then came to see what someone posted and noticed my sig and was like zomg i messeddid it up... Actually I am going to laugh when they find nothing (dark matter may not exist, just another one of those origin theories)
I am freaked out at even the thought of the black hole, but the discoveries they said it would help find would be enormously influential, and could be the breakthrough of a lifetime. Even though it scares me, I think they should test it, and they probably will considering the billions of dollars went into making it.
This sounds pretty scary, what would be the point of all this? I'm just glad I'm on the other side of the Earth if something DOES go wrong.
It just might though but it could cause the world's (including all the animal's - they will pay) demise.
I think they should find a way to get rid of the black holes to stop it if it does happen. Before they test it
^ My good sir, that is ridiculous. (also turn of your sig!) Black holes are unstoppable. They are basically matter with an immense amount of gravitational pull. So far there is no such machine that is anti-gravitational (yeah and if you say skydiving machines, you are just ignorant). Nothing can actually eliminate gravity. Scientists know that black holes are huge amounts of gravity, based upon the one in the center of our galaxy. This one actually causes the milky way galaxy to go into orbit. Exactly like our solar system orbiting around the sun, or the moon orbiting around the Earth. I think we should try it out. The risk is so very low, and the return is very high. Also no one spends that much money just to let it collect dust! We need to use it. If we discover dark matter, that would be so Bad ass (Mass Effect, bionics use dark matter to manipulate objects and such, lol). Also we might find alternative energy, and who doesn't want that? I think we should go for it, and make one of the greatest discoveries mankind has had in years. It could jump our technology 100's of years into the future, we won't know until we tried it... ~Randle $candal
Seriously? Black holes are an unstoppable force. It sucks in matter. Light can't escape them...and you want humans to create something to STOP them? I pray for humanity that that post was not serious
There is no way that machine could produce a black hole. A black hole is a super dense spec of matter that has a very, very large gravitational force. The gravitational force is directly related to the amount of matter with the black hole. There is not enough matter on the earth to create a black hole....so whoever claimed a black hole could be created from using the machine didn't know what they were talking about.
lol sorry Biz but if a black hole appears, it dont matter where the hell you are, you are still screwed, just itll kill you later than people closer. They said a mini-black hole. It wouldn't be a big one like in the center of our galaxy. A mini black hole, according to wikipedia: "A micro black hole, also called a quantum mechanical black hole and inevitably a mini black hole, is simply a tiny black hole for which quantum mechanical effects play an important role. In theory, a black hole can have any size or mass. Under some speculative theories, primordial black holes were created during the big bang at the earliest stages of the evolution of our universe." But wikipedia and the OP article also states that a mini black hole created by the LHC would, according to statistics and Steven Hawkings, evaporate in an event, discovered by hawkins, called Hawkings Radiation in which: "In 1974 Stephen Hawking theorized that due to quantum effects, such primordial black holes could "evaporate" by a theoretical process now referred to as Hawking Radiation in which particles of matter would be emitted. Under this theory, the smaller the size of the micro black hole, the faster the evaporation rate, resulting in a sudden burst of particles as the micro black hole suddenly explodes. Searches[1] for such evaporating micro black holes are planned for the GLAST satellite to be launched in 2008, which will search for gamma ray bursts which should be associated with such evaporation." Yet since we've never seen one in person and thus never have seen this "hawkings radiation" theory proven, for all we know the mini black hole will NOT evaporate, and instead go on to destroy Earth. Also in that wiki article, link below, it states that the machine, if it does create a mini black hole, will continue to create them one per second or so. I'm no scientist and Im just guessing, but hundreds or so mini black holes, wouldnt they fuse together and create a big black hole? Even if they didn't, some damage would definitely be done before they evaporate, and if they dont, sayonara.
Errmm...How bout we all get sources? I will go get some in a minute...but seriously, you're all posting and talking about this with no form of proof of knowledge, high-fives all around (excluding sticklers last post) Oooo, here's an interesting find: Asking a judge to save the world, and maybe even more. I think that taking a quick look will give you a self-explanation. .........................................................Much time later............................................. Well...I couldn't really keep my mind on the topic, as the 1000 post countdown hit 1000, but ya... If anyone's interested in reading a novel of information about the safety of the LHC or the workings of the LSAG (LHC Safety Assessment Group) Here you are also, there is a link inside that, which leads the legit novel I spoke of...Review of the Safety of LHC Collisions Now, if you are a normal human being, with a life, you won't actually have the time nor the patience to read that. So I found a decent summary of it...Here. Though, I'm still on the side of the fence that says this is a horrible idea, no evidence they can provide me that says "Oh, it'll be okay," while patting me on the head...will keep me from being concerned...I mean, seriously, how can they truly know that their science is fool-proof when they are going into the unknown?...Idk, I'm ****ing exhausted, I will be willing to discuss this more when I get some rest, lata
I was talking about something like a nuclear explosion. But ya im ****ed if there really was going to be a black hole which now has a very small chance of happening.
The mere fact that the experiment could provide evidence of the Higgs Boson is enough to make me think it worthwhile. People are just freaking out because it's the biggest atomic collider yet. Tons of other ones exist in the world, and so far I'm pretty sure nothing but the Bermuda Triangle has been affected by your supposed "black holes." Joking aside, I can honestly say I trust Stephen Hawking's "Hawking Radiation" theory, seeing as the man is a complete genius and is the Einstein of our time. But, do you guys know what the Higgs Boson is?!?! Wikipedia Article The Higgs Boson being found would explain why matter has mass. It would explain one of the questions physicists have been trying to answer since ancient times! Finding out why objects have mass would possibly even allow us to know how to manipulate mass! The technological repercussions from such a discovery would be huge, and no one can for sure say what exactly we could do. Perhaps we could reduce the mass of cars, making it so that they would need less fuel. Perhaps we could reduce space-bound vehicles' mass so they could escape the atmosphere easier, and gradually increase their mass as they ascend to build momentum and such. Who knows? I sure don't but the promise of such a discovery is way too exciting for me to worry about a few mini-black holes being created.
Not true you can't say that considering no one has ever tried but Steven awking is building a machine to build a black hole and then after a couple of seconds he plans to destroy it i believe that it is called the string theory bu i can't remember it off the top off my head.
fck it. A whole human race isnt worth such a find. Maybe research it bit more to find out if can produce such a thing. But as for rite now, you bet my balls that I wouldnt test it witout knowing more about it.
AUGUST: They'll fire up the LHC and it'll start to hum, and all the scientists will start toasting each other and giving high-fives. But before anyone realizes anything's going wrong, the whole earth will be compressed to the size of an altoid. "Stable" black hole. Hah!