The LHC - Dangerous To The World?

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Will the Large Hadron Collider create a black hole that will destroy the world? No, but it may solve mysteries about the origin of the universe.

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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, intended to collide opposing particle beams of either protons at an energy of 7 TeV (1.12 microjoules) per particle, or lead nuclei at an energy of 574 TeV (92.0 microjoules) per nucleus.

The term hadron refers to such particles that are composed of quarks. It is expected that it will address the most fundamental questions of physics, hopefully allowing progress in understanding the deepest laws of nature. The LHC lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference, as much as 175 metres (570 ft) beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland.

The Large Hadron Collider was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) with the intention of testing various predictions of high-energy physics, including the existence of the hypothesized Higgs boson and of the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetry. It is funded by and built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.

In September 2008, the operations were halted due to a serious fault between two superconducting bending magnets. Repairing the resulting damage and installing additional safety features took over a year. In November 2009 the proton beams were successfully circulated again and the first proton-proton collisions were recorded, at the injection energy of 450 GeV per particle.

In December 2009, the LHC was shut down after its initial commissioning run, which achieved proton collision energies of 2.36 TeV, with multiple bunches of protons circulating for several hours and data from over one million proton-proton collisions. The LHC resumed operations in February 2010, but it will operate at only half of the design collision energy. In 2012 it will be shut down for the repairs necessary to bring it to its full design energy, and then it will start up again in 2013.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• lhc
• cern
• black
• hole
• danger
• destroy
• world
• large
• hadron
• collider
• mysteries
• origin
• universe
• particles
• accelerators
• beams
• protons
• nuclei
• hadrons
• fundamental
• high
• energy
• physics
• laws
• nature
• supersymmetry
• scientists
• collisions

[sbergman27]

@bloodeyez2 : You've got a little foam running out the corner of your mouth there, btw.

We have a pretty good idea just what questions LHC is likely to answer. Depending upon the answers, we have some idea what new questions might be raised. Beyond that... and the really interesting bit... is that there will no doubt be questions raised which we didn't expect. The most exciting phrase in science is not "Eureka!" but "Hmmm... That's odd...".

Start using your brain. And stop blathering.

[TheRationalizer]

@monkeyology1 It's a false opposition, there is enough money for both.

[ftopdirs]

very informative and brilliant video

[KanchoKomancho]

PROBLEM IS NOBODY REALLY KNOWS. And we all act as if these (always epistemologically arrogant) particle physicists do. The should have all be forced first to study biophysics, complexity, earth physics, geology, biology, neuro-studies and consciousness (even finance), in order to get in touch with reality, planet, human nature, etc. and grasp some bits of the real context they live and work in. Perhaps they would then become a bit more humble and aware of the immensely complex world around them.

[ctopdirs]

nice

[JeniTheBat]

Mantap

[TheJatmikoo]

SO CUTE

[MyDavidsun]

Interesting video

[andreeaweed]

Great stuff

[TheSanovita]

awesome

[MrYendor1968]

you never never know if you never never go