~mystic_fish
@~mystic_fish
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The Biggest Bang (Hadron Collider)
But the skeptics have filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Hawaii and in the European Court of Human Rights to stop the project. They unsuccessfully mounted a similar action in 1999 to block the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York state.
CERN's collider has been under construction since 2003, financed mostly by its 20 European member states. The United States and Japan are major contributors with observer status in CERN.
Scientists started colliding subatomic particles decades ago. As the machines grew more powerful, the experiments revealed that protons and neutrons - previously thought to be the smallest components of an atom - were made of still smaller quarks and gluons.
CERN hopes to recreate conditions in the laboratory a split-second after the big bang, teaching them more about "dark matter," antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time.
Meanwhile, scientists have found innovative ways to explain the concept in layman's terms.
The team working on one of the four major installations in the tunnel - the ALICE, or "A Large Ion Collider Experiment" - produced a comic book featuring Carlo the physicist and a girl called Alice to explain the machine's investigation of matter a split second after the Big Bang.
"We create mini Big Bangs by bumping two nuclei into each other," Carlo explains to Alice, who has just followed a rabbit down one of the hole-like shafts at CERN.
"This releases an enormous amount of energy that liberates thousands of quarks and gluons normally imprisoned inside the nucleus. Quarks and gluons then form a kind of thick soup that we call the quark-gluon plasma."
The soup cools quickly and the quarks and gluons stick together to form protons and neutrons, the building blocks of matter.
That will enable scientists to look for still missing pieces to the puzzle - or lead to the formulation of a new theory on the makeup of matter.
Kate McAlpine, 23, a Michigan State University graduate at CERN, has produced the Large Hadron Rap, a video clip that has attracted more than a million views on YouTube.
"The things that it discovers will rock you in the head," McAlpine raps as she dances in the tunnel and caverns.
CERN spokesman James Gillies said the lyrics are "absolutely scientifically spot on."
"It's quite brilliant," Gillies said.
CERN's collider has been under construction since 2003, financed mostly by its 20 European member states. The United States and Japan are major contributors with observer status in CERN.
Scientists started colliding subatomic particles decades ago. As the machines grew more powerful, the experiments revealed that protons and neutrons - previously thought to be the smallest components of an atom - were made of still smaller quarks and gluons.
CERN hopes to recreate conditions in the laboratory a split-second after the big bang, teaching them more about "dark matter," antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time.
Meanwhile, scientists have found innovative ways to explain the concept in layman's terms.
The team working on one of the four major installations in the tunnel - the ALICE, or "A Large Ion Collider Experiment" - produced a comic book featuring Carlo the physicist and a girl called Alice to explain the machine's investigation of matter a split second after the Big Bang.
"We create mini Big Bangs by bumping two nuclei into each other," Carlo explains to Alice, who has just followed a rabbit down one of the hole-like shafts at CERN.
"This releases an enormous amount of energy that liberates thousands of quarks and gluons normally imprisoned inside the nucleus. Quarks and gluons then form a kind of thick soup that we call the quark-gluon plasma."
The soup cools quickly and the quarks and gluons stick together to form protons and neutrons, the building blocks of matter.
That will enable scientists to look for still missing pieces to the puzzle - or lead to the formulation of a new theory on the makeup of matter.
Kate McAlpine, 23, a Michigan State University graduate at CERN, has produced the Large Hadron Rap, a video clip that has attracted more than a million views on YouTube.
"The things that it discovers will rock you in the head," McAlpine raps as she dances in the tunnel and caverns.
CERN spokesman James Gillies said the lyrics are "absolutely scientifically spot on."
"It's quite brilliant," Gillies said.
"..or dangerous tampering with nature that could spell doomsday."
Well, i'm feeling kind of nervous! Honestly, i can't wait til it's all over & done with. :/ i like my planet just the way it is. Hope they know what they're doing!! xxx crossing fingers!
Well, i'm feeling kind of nervous! Honestly, i can't wait til it's all over & done with. :/ i like my planet just the way it is. Hope they know what they're doing!! xxx crossing fingers!
in the begining we did not know anything how did we find out what we know we exsperamented.
wayyyyy!!! NO 5th dimension or black hole swallowed me whole either!!
Okay cool, now to sift through ALL that (extreme) amount of data.
Here's a few more techno tidbits:
How much data will the LHC generate? Enough data to fill a CD every second.
How will the data be analysed? CERN has set up a world-wide grid of 100,000 computers to crunch the numbers.
What are the physicists hope to discover? They're hoping to find an elusive particle called the Higgs boson.
Why do some people refer to the Higgs boson as the God Particle? Because it's the particle that endows all other particles with mass.
How soon will a Higgs boson show up? If it does, indeed, show up it will be at least two years before the Higgs boson is found.
Will the LHC produce a micro black hole? The CERN physicists hope so. Indeed, if the LHC does produce micro black holes, it will likely do so at the rate of about one per second.
Will micro black holes destroy the planet? No. They'll evaporate instantaneously because of Hawking radiation.
How can the physicists be so sure that there's no danger? For billions of years, cosmic rays have been battering the earth with much higher energies than the LHC particles will ever attain. None of these collisions has ever created a stable, earth-eating black hole. So there's no reason to think that the LHC will create harmful micro black holes. That same line of thinking rules out the possibility that some have raised that the LHC will produce other planet-threatening particles such as strangelets and magnetic monopoles.
Does the LHC mark the end of US technological supremacy? In this particular area of research, yes. The largest atom smasher in the US is the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago. The LHC will be seven times more powerful, and will have 100 times more collisions per second than the Tevatron.
How much has the LHC cost? About $ 6 billion thus far.
How much has Canada contributed? About $ 100 million.
How many physicists are working on the LHC? About 2,000 are employed by CERN, another 10,000 scientists around the world collaborate with CERN.
Given that the LHC tunnel spans two countries, how many border crossings will each proton make in a second? Each proton will cross the France/Switzerland border 44,000 times per second.
Will there be any practical benefits from the LHC? The LHC has been designed for pure research. There are no guaranteed practical benefits.
Okay cool, now to sift through ALL that (extreme) amount of data.
Here's a few more techno tidbits:
How much data will the LHC generate? Enough data to fill a CD every second.
How will the data be analysed? CERN has set up a world-wide grid of 100,000 computers to crunch the numbers.
What are the physicists hope to discover? They're hoping to find an elusive particle called the Higgs boson.
Why do some people refer to the Higgs boson as the God Particle? Because it's the particle that endows all other particles with mass.
How soon will a Higgs boson show up? If it does, indeed, show up it will be at least two years before the Higgs boson is found.
Will the LHC produce a micro black hole? The CERN physicists hope so. Indeed, if the LHC does produce micro black holes, it will likely do so at the rate of about one per second.
Will micro black holes destroy the planet? No. They'll evaporate instantaneously because of Hawking radiation.
How can the physicists be so sure that there's no danger? For billions of years, cosmic rays have been battering the earth with much higher energies than the LHC particles will ever attain. None of these collisions has ever created a stable, earth-eating black hole. So there's no reason to think that the LHC will create harmful micro black holes. That same line of thinking rules out the possibility that some have raised that the LHC will produce other planet-threatening particles such as strangelets and magnetic monopoles.
Does the LHC mark the end of US technological supremacy? In this particular area of research, yes. The largest atom smasher in the US is the Tevatron at Fermilab near Chicago. The LHC will be seven times more powerful, and will have 100 times more collisions per second than the Tevatron.
How much has the LHC cost? About $ 6 billion thus far.
How much has Canada contributed? About $ 100 million.
How many physicists are working on the LHC? About 2,000 are employed by CERN, another 10,000 scientists around the world collaborate with CERN.
Given that the LHC tunnel spans two countries, how many border crossings will each proton make in a second? Each proton will cross the France/Switzerland border 44,000 times per second.
Will there be any practical benefits from the LHC? The LHC has been designed for pure research. There are no guaranteed practical benefits.
However all previous pure research has led to discoveries with practical benefits. The original research on electrons was done without any inkling of the benefits that would flow from electronic devices. It's pretty well inevitable that research at CERN will lead to fresh scientific insights that will have practical applications.
What is the reason for colliding sub-atomic particles into one another? It's the best way to explore the inner workings of atoms and learn about the fundamental nature of matter.
Why is CERN called CERN? The letters stand for Conseil europ?en pour la Recherche nucl?aire, the original French name for organisation. The old acronym has been retained because so many people have become accustomed to using it.
Is it possible to visit the LHC? Yes, CERN organises lengthy and informative visits for the general public. If you'd like to book a half-day visit, go to www.cern.ch and click on the "Come to CERN" link.
Where is CERN? CERN is located in the suburb of Meyrin on the outskirts of Geneva and can be easily reached by city bus.
What is the reason for colliding sub-atomic particles into one another? It's the best way to explore the inner workings of atoms and learn about the fundamental nature of matter.
Why is CERN called CERN? The letters stand for Conseil europ?en pour la Recherche nucl?aire, the original French name for organisation. The old acronym has been retained because so many people have become accustomed to using it.
Is it possible to visit the LHC? Yes, CERN organises lengthy and informative visits for the general public. If you'd like to book a half-day visit, go to www.cern.ch and click on the "Come to CERN" link.
Where is CERN? CERN is located in the suburb of Meyrin on the outskirts of Geneva and can be easily reached by city bus.
Mystic Fish - I have been fascinated by this story. It is scary as hell. I must admit I would not want to be any where near the LHC. Sceintist assure that this is a safe conglomerate but how do they know? My question is when you are creating something with that amount of energy where does it go after the atoms collide. How do they know that the small black holes created won't be dangerous? Another observation is the big bang happened outside our atmosphere, how can they be so sure that recreating the big bang won't react different in our atmosphere.
There was a 16 year old girl in India who committed suicide on Wednesday because she was fearing doomsday.
I am fascinated because of the magnitude of this study, however also frightened for the unknown and our own salvation.
Thats it ...the world is ending .....we must fornicate. LOL j/k
On a serious note, the whole idea really scares me a bit.
PD
There was a 16 year old girl in India who committed suicide on Wednesday because she was fearing doomsday.
I am fascinated because of the magnitude of this study, however also frightened for the unknown and our own salvation.
Thats it ...the world is ending .....we must fornicate. LOL j/k
On a serious note, the whole idea really scares me a bit.
PD
the yanks were building a bigger one but stoped why?
I like that mate, very good
ALL Good questions that go through my mind too, Pisces_Dream. I don't think we can possibly have all the answers, especially when we ARE dealing with different atmospheres and unknown potentials. When the sub-atomic particles do collide, they create (ALOT) of radiation, so nobody can even be near the LCH for at least a couple of hours. Then who really knows .. yeah, it's is both fascinating and scary.
Even then, what is the future of science and similar LCH programs, as this may only be a drop in the bucket .. How close to the edge can we safely experiment, before we affect ourselves?
btw, what a terrible terrible tragedy about the girl in India, hard to believe .. so sorry to hear. :/
Even then, what is the future of science and similar LCH programs, as this may only be a drop in the bucket .. How close to the edge can we safely experiment, before we affect ourselves?
btw, what a terrible terrible tragedy about the girl in India, hard to believe .. so sorry to hear. :/
Nahh, Viva La France! Let them big black baddy holes swallow up the middle-east instead! ..sans women, children and all peaceable men, of course. =) ..just swallow all that nasty rocky terrain and the bad bully boyz. 🙂
Who knows xun maybe the blackhole is the 5th dimension lol
We will make great ailen pets lol
Yeah mystic it was so sad to here about the Indian girl. Perhaps she was a visionary and saw something we didn't.
Here is what I don't get we have starving ppl around the world and man wld rather spend 8 billion dollars on the lhc.
I dunno maybe I am just too logical for a scientific mind.
Pd
We will make great ailen pets lol
Yeah mystic it was so sad to here about the Indian girl. Perhaps she was a visionary and saw something we didn't.
Here is what I don't get we have starving ppl around the world and man wld rather spend 8 billion dollars on the lhc.
I dunno maybe I am just too logical for a scientific mind.
Pd
Do I hear a giant sucking sound!
It all just get's more and more amazing..! i saw this huge meteor fall to earth the other night, right before my eyes! i was in my car..lol ..damn that was awesomely beautiful. You really DO have to be at the right place, at the right time. I think our own imaginations could NEVER come close to what's truly out there.
Oui, ce poisson aime quelques parties de la science. J'ai vraiment vu ce m?t?ore splendide dans le ciel de nuit fonc?. D'autres personnes chanceuses l'ont ?galement vu dans les cieux occidentaux et en partie en les Etats-Unis. Vraiment, une fois dans une vie! Peut-?tre vous serez chanceux aussi, ?nergie, n'abandonnez jamais l'espoir. Ou vous pouvez voir quelque chose juste comme merveilleuse! Albert Enstein ?tait vraiment un esprit dou? ; un fishie fut? superbe!
Maintenant, se demande ce que je verrai apr?s! En fait, c'a ?t? un num?ro 7 ans pour moi, symbolisant l'?trange et rare. En effet!
Maintenant, se demande ce que je verrai apr?s! En fait, c'a ?t? un num?ro 7 ans pour moi, symbolisant l'?trange et rare. En effet!
Damn the french again, they built that figgen tunnel now they build a black hole machine what next
how 'bout, figure out a way to win the next war, yes..?? 🙂
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GENEVA - It has been called an Alice in Wonderland investigation into the makeup of the universe - or dangerous tampering with nature that could spell doomsday.
Whatever the case, the most powerful atom-smasher ever built comes online Wednesday, eagerly anticipated by scientists worldwide who have awaited this moment for two decades.
The multibillion-dollar Large Hadron Collider will explore the tiniest particles and come ever closer to reenacting the Big Bang, the theory that a colossal explosion created the universe.
The machine at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, promises scientists a closer look at the makeup of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.
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CERN dismisses the risk of micro black holes, subatomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars.