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End of World Postponed. You may return to work.

June 21st, 2008
By JAZZ SHAW, Assistant Editor

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BlackHole.jpgFollowing the release of a safety report on the Large Hadron Collider, it appears that the world’s largest particle accelerator is on track to begin operations next summer. This comes in spite of fears on the part of some observers that it could create miniature black holes which could destroy the planet.

Europe’s CERN particle-physics lab has issued its long-awaited report on safety issues surrounding the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s biggest and most expensive atom-smasher. Some have feared that when the collider reaches full power, sometime next year, it might create microscopic black holes or other exotic phenomena that could endanger Earth. The new report, like earlier safety studies, rules out the possibility of global danger.

I can only dream of being smart enough to give an informed opinion on this question, so I’m going to have to go with the safety experts and take them at their word. Of course, the idea of creating a black hole of any size here on the face of the planet is somewhat disquieting. A stable black hole on Earth’s surface would, according to some of those objecting, consume the entire planet in a matter of days and eventually eat the solar system.

But hey, look on the bright side. If the whole experiment does go south, you’ll have very little time to worry about it, and the view should be spectacular! And, as an added bonus, none of you will need to worry about losing the election this fall. Cheers!

UPDATE: See Part Two of this series.



This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 5:59 am and is filed under Natural Disasters, Science, Math, Technology. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 9 Comments

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    Quote: "so I’m going to have to go with the safety experts and take them at their word"

    This new report provides reasonable evidence that when a stray cosmic ray particle collides with Earth or a Neutron star, dangerous black holes are not produced.

    Unfortunately for those of us who do research the details, the report does not directly address the safety of colliding thousands of tightly packed anti-matter particles head on against thousands of tightly packed matter particles at 99.9999991% of the speed of light with powerful magnets and exactly opposing momentums to focus the energy. Planned conditions at the LHC that might create dangerous black holes.

    This report simply asks us to make one hell of an assumption, that a single cosmic ray particle impact with Earth or Neutron stars will produce the same results as colliding thousands of anti-matter particles head on against thousands of matter particles with powerful magnets and exactly opposing momentums to focus the energy. We are asked to accept that these conditions must create the same results, without a single scientific explaination to support what appears to me to be a rather far fetched assumption “hence neither will the LHC“.

    LHCFacts.org
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    "A stable black hole on Earth’s surface would, according to some of those objecting, consume the entire planet in a matter of days and eventually eat the solar system."

    The radical Left will still say the worst problem is global warming (and the modern West).
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    The question is whether or not the collider would produce a stable black hole. Current theory says that black holes do in fact allow for some particles to escape the event horizon. As I understand it, the smaller the black hole the more unstable it is and the more likely it is to simply "evaporate" quickly.
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    And if a small black hole was created it just might be something not expected to be found in nature, a black hole with an electric charge. That would mean that it just might stay contained in the magnetic field of the accelerator for its lifetime.
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    "Current theory says that black holes do in fact allow for some particles to escape the event horizon." OK... when you've perfected the art of escaping from the event horizon of a black hole, please send a memo with instructions (or would it be the escape route?) to everyone on the planet. Though I'm not sure what there would be left to stay at.

    "That would mean that it just might stay contained in the magnetic field of the accelerator for its lifetime." Ok.... do we really want to find out the hard way that a black hole really won't stay contained in the magnetic field?

    Besides, there's lots of power needed to keep these things up and running... what if the sun goes behind a cloud? (I really wasn't being flip- my real question being, what happens if there's not a steady power source and there are fluctuations in the energy?

    One last comment... these "safety" experts... I hope they're not scientists from the Bush Administration who only look at facts to support the outcome they want, rather than take all facts into consideration and then come to a conclusion....
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    A stable black hole on Earth’s surface would, according to some of those objecting, consume the entire planet in a matter of days and eventually eat the solar system.

    Okay, no one here has asked what to me is the obvious question: What would it look like or feel like to watch the world being "eaten up" by a black hole (if it took a few days), and what would it feel like when the black hole reached us and started eating US up? Would it be like an explosion? An earthquake? A black cloud coming closer and closer and then .... nothingness?

    I simply cannot believe I am the only person who has these questions. But nobody else asks them.
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    kathyedits, good point. I don't think anyone knows the answer, but I picture it like going down a drain hole. A black drain hole. I guess I watch too much scifi. If we were eaten up I think it would happen too quickly for us to actually see anything coming. :)
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    Somehow, I felt better before i knew there were fears to assuage.
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    Accelerator creates black hole. Earth to perish in 3 days, Women, minorities and poor hardest hit.
 
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