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Potential for worst disaster in the world

Potential for worst disaster in the world

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Originally posted by UmCrack
Within a few months the world's biggest particle accelerator will be switched on for the first time.

Length - 27km
Cost - US$4,000,000,000
Detector weight - 7,000 tons

This will smash protons together at 99.999999% the speed of light, potentially creating a black hole that will run out of control and engulf the world.

It's an experiment. We do exp ...[text shortened]... ver new things or because we are unsure about something.

Did you agree to this experiment ?
Is it seriously possible to get that close to the speed of light?

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For anyone who actually wants a source other than a paranoid guy who hasn't taken physics since highschool (or may still be in highschool) try here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider

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Originally posted by XanthosNZ
For anyone who actually wants a source other than a paranoid guy who hasn't taken physics since highschool (or may still be in highschool) try here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
Apparently the most dangerous aspect of the whole project so far, has been a technician killed in the LHC tunnel when a crane load was accidentally dropped.

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What is the LHC power consumption?
It is around 120 MW which corresponds more or less to the power consumption for households in the Canton (State) of Geneva.

Are the LHC collisions dangerous?
No, the LHC collisions are not dangerous.

Mini big bangs?
Although the energy concentration (or density) in the particle collisions at the LHC is very high, in absolute terms the energy involved is very low compared to the energies we deal with every day or with the energies involved in the collisions of cosmic rays. However, at the very small scales of the proton beam, this energy concentration reproduces the energy density that existed just a few moments after the big bang – that is why collisions at the LHC are sometimes referred to as mini big bangs.

Black holes?
According to some theoretical models, tiny black holes could be produced in collisions at the LHC. They would then very quickly decay into what is known as Hawking radiation (the tinier the black hole, the faster it evaporates) which would be detected by experiments. Cosmic rays with very much more energy than that available at the LHC, could also in principle produce black holes. However no evidence for such phenomena has so far been found.

Radiation?
Radiation is unavoidable at particle accelerators like the LHC. The particle collisions that allow us to study the origin of matter also generate radiation. CERN has various procedures to ensure that radiation exposure to the staff is as low as possible and well below the international standard safety limits. The LHC tunnel is housed 100 m underground, so deep that radiation will not be detected at the surface.

Radiation is everywhere. It is emitted by the Earth and reaches us from space, for example from stars, in particular the Sun. Particles impact the Earth after passing through our atmosphere which acts as a natural shield for many of them. This is a natural, harmless phenomenon.

Radiation doses rise with altitude: a round trip flight from Paris to New York accounts for almost the half of the annual dose you get at the ground's surface at CERN (0.78 mSv per year). If you go on the top of the Mont Blanc, you get 10 times this dose (8.70 mSv per year).

Source: http://public.web.cern.ch/public/Content/Chapters/AskAnExpert/LHC-en.html#qb1

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Originally posted by UmCrack
Within a few months the world's biggest particle accelerator will be switched on for the first time.

Length - 27km
Cost - US$4,000,000,000
Detector weight - 7,000 tons

This will smash protons together at 99.999999% the speed of light, potentially creating a black hole that will run out of control and engulf the world.

It's an experiment. We do exp ...[text shortened]... ver new things or because we are unsure about something.

Did you agree to this experiment ?
Let her rip! Taking scientific chances makes life worthwhile. Nothing in life is worse than boredom.

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Originally posted by kmax87
Apparently the most dangerous aspect of the whole project so far, has been a technician killed in the LHC tunnel when a crane load was accidentally dropped.
A technician was injured during the making of the experiment?!?!?!?

STOP the whole thing now!!!

1 edit
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Originally posted by UmCrack
Within a few months the world's biggest particle accelerator will be switched on for the first time.

Length - 27km
Cost - US$4,000,000,000
Detector weight - 7,000 tons

This will smash protons together at 99.999999% the speed of light, potentially creating a black hole that will run out of control and engulf the world.

It's an experiment. We do exp ...[text shortened]... ver new things or because we are unsure about something.

Did you agree to this experiment ?
Well first off, its not "an experiment", its an ongoing scientific research station and like the man says, anything like a black hole wouldn't last long enough to even be noticed, no warping of space and turning the LHC inside out for instance, any such warpage of space would be on such a small scale as to effect only atoms within a few atomic radii at best. It will take a hell of a lot more than an eighth of a gigawatt to make a useful black hole. The same thing was said of the first A bomb, it could go super critical or something and set up a feedback effect to destroy the atmoshere and the earth. That didn't happen and neither will a black hole cause any damage even if it is created.
When I said 'useful black hole' I am referring to the possibility of having a very small one confined and feeding it stuff (any matter) and it would of course swallow up most of the incoming but would also generate Hawking radiation that could be tapped as an energy source. That could be done, oh, sometime in the next two thousand years or so..,...

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Originally posted by UmCrack
Within a few months the world's biggest particle accelerator will be switched on for the first time.

Length - 27km
Cost - US$4,000,000,000
Detector weight - 7,000 tons

This will smash protons together at 99.999999% the speed of light, potentially creating a black hole that will run out of control and engulf the world.

It's an experiment. We do exp ...[text shortened]... ver new things or because we are unsure about something.

Did you agree to this experiment ?
Your scenario could never happen. Until your particle attained 100% the speed of light, nothing will really happen. When it does, and extra atom should pop into existance. 1st Year university physics - and I didn't even study it!

1 edit
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Originally posted by scottishinnz
Your scenario could never happen. Until your particle attained 100% the speed of light, nothing will really happen. When it does, and extra atom should pop into existance. 1st Year university physics - and I didn't even study it!
heres the thing and what it's looking for:

http://www.nikhef.nl/pub/pr/eATLAS.html

and more @: http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PhotoDatabase/

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Originally posted by UmCrack

This will smash protons together at 99.999999% the speed of light, potentially creating a black hole that will run out of control and engulf the world.
Can we set one up on the other side of the world with the particles traveling around in the opposite direction to counteract this possibility?

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Originally posted by frogstomp
heres the thing and what it's looking for:

http://www.nikhef.nl/pub/pr/eATLAS.html

and more @: http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PhotoDatabase/
Pretty isn't it?!

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Originally posted by ElleEffSeee
Can we set one up on the other side of the world with the particles traveling around in the opposite direction to counteract this possibility?
Ha ha ha!!! Lol. (I really hope you're joking!)