Date set for big-bang device

[Baack]

The countdown to the startup of the world's most powerful particle collider has begun with today's announcement that the first beam of protons will be sent all the way through the 17-mile-round Large Hadron Collider on Sept. 10.
A key phase of the final preparations for the $10 billion project begins this weekend, when Europe's CERN particle-physics center begins testing the last links in the high-powered chain of magnets that will eventually send beams shooting through the collider's ring with the energy of a bullet train. During this weekend's tests, low-intensity protons will be injected into a small section of the collider and zip around one-eighth of the ring.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...aspx?GT1=43001

[Omega]

is this supposed to be nuclear fission? it doesn't seem safe to me.

[pvwowk]

The worry is that it will cause a black hole and swallow up the earth. The likelihood of that happening is minuscule to nothing, and that is what everybody is worried about.

I personally think that if it creates a black hole, it will create a small black hole. The black hole will be so small it will either evaporate away in a few milliseconds, or (more likely in my opinion) be harmless.

However, if it does create a black hole, it is possible that these small black holes could be a near unlimited energy source...

[Baack]

I saw something about this I think on the discovery channel
When asked could it cause a chain reaction and destroy the earth
The answer was that the earth is bombarded daily with much more of this energy so it is considered safe????

[doubledragon5]

What exactly is this test suppose to accomplish?

[25(2)+2]

Supposed to simulate conditions just after the Big Bang, before there was matter the way it is now, the miniature black holes possibly produced would be very hot and disappear in microseconds from a phenomenon known as Hawking radiation, they would be tiny and would move less than an atomic nuclei before evaporating in a relatively large burst of energy, still wouldn't be noticeable to us . This information was from Discover magazine and Scientific American.

America's similar scale project was canceled in 1993 after cost projections kept ramping up, the Superconducting Super Collider was actually much larger and more powerful. with a cost to the US of about the same amount as the Space Station, Congress decided that the nation couldn't afford both.

[doubledragon5]

Can you imagine what would happen if the military found some use for it..

[Truckerjo]

Not sure but I also think anti matter is created in this as well... Very Very Very small amounts... You can produce enough of that and you can travel the stars they say...

America's similar scale project was canceled in 1993 after cost projections kept ramping up, the Superconducting Super Collider was actually much larger and more powerful. with a cost to the US of about the same amount as the Space Station, Congress decided that the nation couldn't afford both.

That is one side of the story.. The other is they built one in secret...

[pvwowk]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5

What exactly is this test suppose to accomplish?

Lots of things. To try to put it in laymen terms...

With chemistry, humans have only messed with the outer shells of atoms, electrons. With this we have made paints, fuels, new materials, etc. But chemistry will only take us so far.

However, physics is a fairly new field that has A LOT of room to expand. Specifically, nuclear physics studies the core of the atom and all other particles. Since many things with physics are not very well understood (common things like radio, gravity, and light are not completely understood). The collider will help understand some of these phenomenon. The possibilities are endless (from star trek transporters to unlimited energy supplies).

[heyns57]

While driving for Chippewa Motor Freight in 1970, I delivered overhead garage doors for construction of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL.