Big Bang experiment could cause end of the world

[scottheisel]

This is totally gnarly:

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

Landmark experiment to unlock secrets of Big Bang could cause end of the world, say scientists in court bid to halt it

By FIONA MACRAE

Last updated at 4:44 PM on 01st September 2008

It has cost £4.4billion and is designed to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.

But rather than providing vital information about the beginning of life, the world's biggest experiment could cause the end of the world, say scientists.

They fear that the Large Hadron Collider - due to be switched on in nine days' time - will create a black hole that could swallow the planet.

The Large Hadron Collider smashes particles together at nearly the speed of light

By smashing sub-atomic particles together at close to the speed of light, the LHC aims to recreate the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the birth of the universe or Big Bang, shedding light on the building blocks of life.

But critics claim that the 'time machine', which has been built 300ft beneath the French-Swiss border near Geneva, could instead spawn a shower of mini-black holes.

Within 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 to the project.

They claim the experiment violates the right to life under the European Convention of Human Rights. However, the case at the European Court of Human Rights is not expected to delay the switch on, scheduled for Wednesday of next week.

Professor Rossler, a German chemist, said the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, or CERN, has admitted its project will create black holes but doesn't consider them to be a risk.

Artist's impression of the Big Bang, the titanic explosion which cosmologists believe created the Universe about 15 billion years ago.

He warned: 'My own calculations have shown it is quite plausible that these little black holes survive and will grow exponentially and eat the planet from the inside. I have been calling for CERN to hold a safety conference to prove my conclusions wrong but they have not been willing.'

Those involved in the project have dismissed the claims as 'absurd' and insist that extensive safety assessments have found the experiment, which is funded by 20 countries, including the UK, to be safe.

A report written earlier this year stated: 'Over the past billions of years, nature has already generated on Earth as many collisions as about a million LHC experiments - and the planet still exists.'

The lifespan of any mini-black holes would be 'very short', it added.

Critics say the LHC could create a black hole which expands until it swallows the Earth

CERN spokesman James Gillies said the arguments before the European Court of Human Rights had been answered in 'extensive safety assessments'.

He told the Sunday Telegraph: 'The Large Hadron Collider will not be producing anything that does not happen routinely in nature due to cosmic rays. If they were dangerous we would know about it already.'

Scientists have used large particle colliders to smash atoms and pieces of atoms together for 30 years, but this machine has attracted so much attention because it is the most powerful ever built.

In the LHC beams of protons will be propelled through an 18-mile-long circular tunnel. More than 5,000 magnets lining the tunnel will accelerate the hundreds of billions of tiny particles to almost the speed of light, allowing them to complete one circuit in one-11,000th of a second.

There will be two beams going in opposite directions, each packing as much energy as a car travelling at 100mph.

When they reach almost the speed of light, they will be smashed head on into each other, breaking them into their constituent parts, including, perhaps, the building blocks of the universe.

[mediocore]

Dude, that story's from Monday, meaning we've already lost 2 of the 9 days we have left.

YOU FUCKER! Way to hold out the info...

Edit: Oh... we have 4 years. *phew*

[flicker]

good.

cause i just got syphilis.

[roadmonkey]

I remember reading about this

It's kinda dumb that people still think this will end the world.

In reality these mini black holes would last less than a second if that.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080627175348.htm

[dynamitekid]

well shit. I was pretty happy living.

[controlthebleeding]

No!! I have to collect all my Jawbreaker collection first!!!

[riddle350]

4 years would make it 2012. Maybe the Mayans were right

[destroyingthescene]

Daily orgies at my house!

[jaaake]

No way this would cause the end of the world. Remember reading about this over summer and I went pretty deep into it, nothing bad will come out of it.

[vinylme]

they are going to piss off god and he's gonna blow us up.

[dante3000]

This is what killed the dinosaurs...Science.

[captainmorgan]

No way this would cause the end of the world. Remember reading about this over summer and I went pretty deep into it, nothing bad will come out of it.

Yes, yes, and true. The "LHC will suck the world into a black hole!" rumor has been debunked so many times I don't know why it still gets attention. There have been one or two papers written by fringe scientists trying to get attention saying the LHC will create strangelets or mini black holes or whatnot, and about twenty other papers written explaining why its a complete load of crap.

I guess imagining the catastrophic end of the world is way cooler than imagining what will actually happen; namely that out will pour bajillions of numbers which scientists will spend the next 4 years attempting to make sense of. Much less sexy than spontaneous black holes, I will admit.

[adammuzzy]

i hope so.

[scottheisel]

To be honest, it would be kind of neat if it made a black hole and it sucked our entire planet inside out. Think about it: It would happen so quickly that no one would even know what just went down. The entire world would be completely obliterated and we wouldn't even feel a thing. It's mindblowing, in a way.

[steventangent]

well, whatever happens. living is kinda awesome but if this happens, it's not like any of us would be cognizant of it.

[adamlikesmusic]

I remember an article I read earlier in the year stated "The odds of CERN creating a black hole are greater than those of winning the lottery".

I suppose it's a rad way to go out in style.

[thesack18]

i watched a show about this some months ago. it was amazing

[Guest baseball]

Well if the world ends before my new living room furniture gets delivered, I'm gonna be PISSED.

[kurtmanner]

To be honest, it would be kind of neat if it made a black hole and it sucked our entire planet inside out. Think about it: It would happen so quickly that no one would even know what just went down. The entire world would be completely obliterated and we wouldn't even feel a thing. It's mindblowing, in a way.

Sounds a lot better to me than getting old and watching everyone you love die. I don't even really fear death, just losing people. I also wouldn't want it to be so soon, haha.

[andrew13]

it's like lewis black once said... the last words a human will ever utter will be "it worked!"

not an exact quote, since it's been a while since i listened to him, but close.

[brentoage]

i get adambomb's descendents collection if i survive and he doesn't. called it.

[tanukichu]

This is all my theories of communication professor talks about. He is obsessed with this. So I hear about it week after week. If it could possibly cause the world to get sucked into a black hole...I'd rather them not do it. Fuck science. I like being a backwards thinking idiot.

[vittywatt]

so you're saying the whole world could have a 1/1 black hole in our own back yard

kickass!