Experiment to unlock secrets of Big Bang could cause end of world; scientists in court to halt it.

[tannybogus]

<snip>
But rather than providing vital information about the beginning of life, the world's biggest experiment could cause the end of the world.
Scientists fear that the Large Hadron Collider - due to be switched on in just nine days' time - will create a mini-black hole that could swallow the planet.
<snip>
But critics claim that the 'time machine' which is housed deep underground near Geneva could instead spawn a shower of mini-black holes.
Within just four years, one of these 'celestial vacuums' could have swollen to such a size that it is capable of sucking the Earth inside-out, said Otto Rossler, one of a group of scientists mounting a last-minute court challenge against the project.
<snip>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1051070/Biggest-experiment-unlock-secrets-Big-Bang-cause-end-world-say-scientists-court-bid-halt-it.html?ITO=1490

Just 9, count them, 9 more days!:popcorn:

[Betsy Ross]

1. Couldn't they do it sooner, before we watch any of

whatever there will be of a Republican convention?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. I might add...

Professor Rossier is a chemist. Not a physicist or mathematician. What he is doing is getting himself involved in something well outside his field of expertise.

[ddeclue]

3. Didn't you hear? They've called the GOP convention off...

Oh wait.. you're not talking about the Large Halliburton Collider...

my bad..

:rofl:

Doug D.

[cobalt1999]

4. I'd guess these are scientists that want some of the funding the Collider is getting

Or their experiments and time on the collider was turned down.

[spoony]

5. I once wore a shirt inside out

all day and no one seemed to notice. Maybe it won't be all that bad! :)

[hedgehog]

6. And physicists have such a sterling record of concern and care

when they make an experiment. A student stood by with an ax to cut the rope holding graphite over the first nuclear pile in case it ran away on them. Of course, it was built in the center of Chicago! And at Alamogordo, they were all pretty sure that setting off the atomic bomb wouldn't actually set the atmosphere on fire....

[DCKit]

7. "Scientists fear..."? Really? But not, specifically, "Physicists", of course.

The Enquirer has higher standards.

[IDemo]

8. Are these the same 'scientists' who believe in abiotic oil and a young Grand Canyon?

[notadmblnd]

9. well I guess the fundies just might get their long awaited rapture

I hope their god is ready for them.

[Kutjara]

10. Not this crap again.

A handful of loony "scientists" have been in full Chicken Little mode since the LHC was announced, trying to stir up panic. The fact is, the LHC will not end the world. Any "mini black holes" it creates will exist for around 10^-34 second and will only be detectable by tiny anomalies in the particle spray resulting from the experiments.

What confuses the layman (and seemingly these scientists) is the use of the term "black hole" to describe both the massive objects believed to be the remnants of large collapsed stars and the tiny ephemeral things that may be created by the LHC. Natural black holes are self sustaining, because the mass of matter at their heart is greater than the critical mass required to bend local spacetime into an inescapable loop. Laboratory-created "black holes" will be made (if at all) by the collision of particles at high velocities, creating extremely temporary regions of high energy and thus (via the magic of E=MC^2) mass. The mass thus created could theoretically be sufficient to create a "black hole-like" object, but with a couple of crucial differences. First, it would be extremely tiny, on the order of the Planck length. Secondly, because it would lack sufficient mass to sustain itself, it would exist for an infinitesimally brief time. So short would be the life of this object, it wouldn't have time to absorb a single particle from its immediate environment, since, even at the speed of light, such a particle would have insufficient time to reach the hole before it vanished. The idea that the hole could somehow absorb the whole Earth is ludicrous.

Frankly, the worries about the LHC bringing about the end of the world are akin to those that greeted the steam-train, the automobile, and supersonic flight.

[tannybogus]

12. They'll find some lunatic judge who was taught

"idiot design", and he will halt the experiment.

[meow mix]

11. "Humans Destroy Milky Way Galaxy, and Neighbors"

who said we would never achieve anything..

[LeftyMom]

13. Conspiracy theorist crap goes in the Dungeon.

Also, the Daily Mail is a tabloid and not a credible source.

[tannybogus]

15. Here's another link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23844529/

I don't believe it, and neither does Fermilab.

[depakid]

19. But the tabloids have the best science reporting, don't ya know!

[kestrel91316]

14. At this point, I'm not so sure the end of the world would be a BAD thing.

I mean, what with global warming and peak oil and the christofascists and pending nuclear war with Iran and Russia, I'm not sure this collider could do anything to us that we're not already doing a great job of.

It WOULD get the job done faster, I suppose.

[SoCalDem]

25. Nooooo. they are waiting to have lunch with Jeeeesus.. this is all wrong

it't not the way it's supposed to happen..

[melody]

16. Oh. My. God.

In the words of Richard Dawkins (whom I very rarely quote), I suppose it's possible there may be fairies in my garden but I'm not going to base scientific opinion on that possibility.

Okay, that's an overreach because the mini-black holes ideas have some abstract scientific value but the risk is infinitesimal beside the great potential of the information.

[tannybogus]

17. I want to see how the judge rules??

How much can he know about nuclear physics?

[melody]

23. All it takes is critical thinking skills to arrive at a decision

Hopefully, he's not a fundie.

[jwirr]

18. Is this the same super collider that our government was once supporting

down in Texas?

[PfcHammer]

20. Blech. This sounds like some Art Bell shit

Let'er rip I say. :thumbsup:

[Runcible Spoon]

21. better a bang than a whimper, I say!

bring it on Science! :rofl:

[Wilber_Stool]

22. We'll all know when they turn it on.

Every ones lights will dim.

[SoCalDem]

24. Didn't I see this episode of Eureka already

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

26. what if black holes don't actually occur naturally...?

but only happen when a civilization advance to the point of doing experiments in particle physics that culminate in the building of a large hadron collider that spawns a black hole that devours all evidence of said civilization?

HUH...? what IF...? HUH...?

anybody else need another bong...?

(but just in case- i'm not going to pay ANY more bills until sept 10)