CERN is not going to kill us all…
By Nicole Kobie in Editorial
Posted in Uncategorized on
A new study from the smart people at CERN — that would be the big lab hidden away in the Swiss mountains where the web was invented — shows that their Large Hadron Collider (which does exactly what it says on the tin) will not kill us all in a rather spectacular way when the power-switch is flipped later this summer.
The LHC is a massive underground machine which will slam particles together to try to recreate the origins of our universe, which is one hell of a cool science project. But some are concerned — myself included — that this is going to have some sort of negative side effects, such as creating a black hole and ending the world.
I’m actually afraid this will happen, but my fears are completely unfounded as I know nothing about anything, let alone this. It just sounds scary to me, but in a cool sort of way. Some other dude actually sued CERN, saying they’re gonna make us all go the way of the dodo bird, which as far as lawsuits go, is wonderfully less frivolous than, say, spilled coffee being hot.
In response to the LHC suit, CERN scientists decided to look into things (they’d looked into this before, actually, thankfully) and produced the fascinatingly titled: “Astrophysical implications of
hypothetical stable TeV-scale black holes”.
The authors of the study said they saw no basis for concerns that such black holes could “pose a risk to Earth on timescales shorter than the Earth’s natural lifetime.” Right, then.
“Indeed, conservative arguments based on detailed calculations and the best-available scientific knowledge, including solid astronomical data, conclude that there is no risk of any significance from such black holes,” they added.
Unless, of course, they’re wrong. So let’s hope they’re right.
Rated: 100% (2 votes)
Loading ...Comment by W - June 24, 2008 on 11:20 pm
CERN judging their own LHC is safe is like a drunk deciding he’s all right to drive… with 6,700,000,000 passengers.
Who cares about a Higgs Boson particle or some quark gluon soup except a handful of frustrated geeks who have run out of ideas and have to experiment with forces they don’t even understand. These freaking physicists waste money and energy time and time again building atom smasher after atom smasher and end up with more questions, not answers. Now they’ve built one so powerful they say themselves it will create mini black holes at the rate of one per second! Which would change your life more; knowing they found some particle or getting crushed and sucked into a black hole along with everyone and every thing you ever cared about?
That sound like a good risk vs. benefit to you, Einstein?!? Just because you can’t wrap your tiny mind around it does not mean it can’t happen.
See for yourself;
http://www.risk-evaluation-forum.org/anon1.htm
http://www.LHCDefense.org/
http://www.LHCFacts.org
http://www.SaneScience.org/
Popular Mechanics - “World’s Biggest Science Project Aims to Unlock ‘God Particle’” - http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/extreme_machines/4216588.html”
Comment by JTankers - June 25, 2008 on 12:54 am
Have you read CERNs SPC Committee’s Safety Report disclaimer?
“this argument relies on properties of cosmic rays and neutrinos that, while highly plausible, do require confirmation”
So… Dr. Rosser might still be correct: “…after 50 months the earth to a centimeter would have shrunk”
Also, see the funny, awesome video on YouTube “You Prefer Your Collider”: youtube.com/watch?v=A1L2xODZSI4
Links and more at LHCFacts.org
Comment by MikeGood - June 25, 2008 on 7:33 am
They would say that though, wouldn’t they.
Not saying don’t switch it on, after all it is an experiment.
Comment by Michael Noonan - August 14, 2008 on 3:20 pm
It is funny how much fuss is made over a micro black hole. The estimate is roughly a micro black every second which is around 600,000 micro black holes a week. A machine running 24/7 could produce millions of micro black holes a year even if it has to shut down for the winter.
What is interesting is the scientists are saying that they do not expect to make any quick discoveries. Maybe it is just me but on those numbers whatever is down there might make itself known quite quickly.
Comment by leeroy - September 10, 2008 on 8:45 am
OMG DID YOU SEE THE NEWS A BLACK HOLE JUST GOT MADE AND I CAN SEE IT OUT THE WINDOW WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE BRB BLACK HOLE LOL
Comment by Swiss Guy - September 10, 2008 on 8:48 am
Oh my god. Look at the news…
Comment by Spencer Selander - September 12, 2008 on 6:45 am
A better place for an experiment like this would be on an asteroid. It will be a while before we have that capability, though. Considering the magnitude of the risks, I think it would be worth a generation or two delay to be on the safe side.
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