The God Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

[McZiderRed]

This Large Hadron Collider thingy. Is it science gone mad, or expensive genius? In case anyone is unaware of what I’m talking about, the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is a large, circular, underground tunnel, in which scientists are going to smash particles together and see what happens!

Back in September 2008, the Independent published an article just before the LHC was due to be switched on. I sort of blithely read the article, ready to turn the page, but my eye was caught by the “end of the world” scenario it presented! Namely, the possible production of a mini black hole! Just out side Geneva!

But anyway, the LHC was shut down shortly after being switched on last year, hence why we are all still here! However, according to this article from the BBC, a test has been conducted in the last couple of days and it was successful.

Scientists working on the giant particle accelerator described the success as "a milestone".
They plan to circulate a beam around the 27km-long tunnel in November.

So, it could be time to get the old sandwich board out. You know, the one that says “the end of the world is nigh!” If by smashing particles together at close to the speed of light seems a bit of a weez, spare a thought for the consequences. Scientists may justify this as a chance to see “new particles in the debris of these collisions that could reveal insights into the Big Bang and the nature of the Universe”, which is this Higgs Boson that they keep banging* on about, but they really have no idea what will happen, which is why they’re doing it! Queue the mini black hole scenario.

If a mini black hole is produced, there are a few things that may happen. One of which is predicted by Stephen Hawking’s theory of evaporation.** Another is my prediction of THE END OF THE WORLD BY BLACK HOLE!

Also, something that few (sane) scientists have mentioned, regarding the possibility of producing black holes, is time travel! By having the ability to produce a black hole and possibly making it stable, this presents the possibility of bending space/time and therefore travelling by worm-hole! Since this would be the first occasion that it was possible, this would be the first opportunity for future time travellers’ to travel back to this time zone! The LHC will be switched on soon, so keep an eye out for strange looking time travellers! One give away could be the sporting of a very long scarf and offering you a jelly baby…

So, in our (possibly) last few weeks before being crushed in a black hole, what are everyone’s thoughts on this mind boggling subject? Is the possible gain worth the risk? The down side is quite big, but may not happen. And what do people make of the idea of Time Travel…!

Post your thoughts for posterity, although that may not be that long..............


* pun intended!
** further reading here.

 

[FB]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Nice thread McZ. Although a bit of a miserable sod who's glass is half empty I tend not to believe the doom mongers who predict the end of the world with some of these experiments; remember they thought dropping the A bomb might set the upper atmosphere on fire. It made a horrible mess of two Japanese cities and destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands but the last time I looked out of the window the sky was still there.

The thread also made me think of last weeks "The Thick of It" where Malcolm Tucker described one MP as "so dense light bends round him", brilliant. I think we all know people like that, maybe a mini black hole could be useful.

 

[McZiderRed]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Nice thread McZ.

Thank you FB, most kind!

I must admit that the whole black hole premise in my article was a bit tongue in cheek on my part. I agree with you, I tend to think that it's very unlikely that the world's gonna end because of the LHC. It did provide a nice angle for this thread though! I once had a discussion with some-one online, on another site, last year and that guy said human kind doesn't have the 'wit' to destroy the Earth completely (just everything living on it!)... Boy, will our faces be red if we're wrong!

The aspect that really piqued my interest, though, was about time-travel! If for no other reason, I hope they do produce a black hole. Einstein's theories didn't discount the feasibility of time-travel and he was quite an intelligent chap! I personally can't get my head around the theory of it (something about time dilation at high speed and using wormholes ), but I'm quite willing to accept Mr Einstein's word on the subject!

 

[Brogan]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Are you trying to tell me that Stargate isn't real?

Nooooooooooo......

 

[teabagyokel]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Stargate isn't real.

PROOF: You go 23 miles from Dover and they don't speak English the other side; if you go to another universe would they speak English? No.

QED

(similar arguments apply for other sci-fis)

 

[Brogan]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Well that depends on whether the world in question was founded by the Ancients or not.

 

[teabagyokel]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

My argument stands, but I'm not debating it...!

 

[McZiderRed]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

If the alien civilisation is advanced, the assumption must be that they'd have universal translators.

Failing that, they'd have discovered the Babel fish*, surely?

* Babel fish, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Babel Fish is small, yellow, leech-like, and is a universal translator which simultaneously translates from one spoken language to another. When inserted into the ear, its nutrition processes convert sound waves into brain waves, neatly crossing the language divide between any species you should happen to meet whilst travelling in space. Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.[1] Arthur Dent, a surviving Earthling, commented only 'Eurgh!' when first inserting the fish into his ear canal. It did, however, enable him to understand Vogon Poetry - not necessarily a good thing. The book points out that the Babel Fish could not possibly have developed naturally, and therefore proves the existence of God as its creator. However, as Man points out, God needs faith to exist, and this proof dispels the need for faith, therefore causing God to vanish "in a puff of logic".

 

[McZiderRed]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

So, the LHC has started smashing protons. This BBC link is the story.

So far, it's only "low energy" collisions, but it is only a matter of time before the full Monty, "just under light speed", collisions occur.
Can't wait, eh?!

So, keep your finger on the news pulse, as the first high energy collisions to happen will be the "event horizon" of possible strange happenings!
'Higgs Boson discovered', 'Mini blackhole forms but dissipates', 'Mini blackhole forms and time travellers arrive' or 'Possible end of the world'!* Tough choice!

Wasn't it an old Chinese proverb, "You don't want to live in interseting times"...





*OK, there is the possibility that none of the above scenarios happen! But c'mon, how boring will that be! Bound to be one of the above....

 

[cider_and_toast]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

We're all dooooooomed

 

[teabagyokel]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

To quote R.E.M.

Its the end of the world as we know it, its the end of the world as we know it, its the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Anyway, the world will end on December 21, 2012 anyway, so never fear.

Until December 22, 2012 and you've gotta do your Christmas shopping!

Funny thing is, I met a strange man earlier. He just said he was "The Doctor" and left...

 

[cider_and_toast]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Thank god the worlds going to end after the Olympics. Wouldn't want to miss that.

 

[McZiderRed]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Anyway, the world will end on December 21, 2012 anyway, so never fear.

That's the Inca calendar, isn't it? What do they know? They didn't even have a small hadron collider, did they?

Funny thing is, I met a strange man earlier. He just said he was "The Doctor" and left...

Perhaps the TARDIS doesn't rely on mini blackholes. Word is, mini blackholes are as unreliable as black mini-cabs! No surprised the doctor seeks his own transportation...

Unless you're just saying you've been ill & had a visit from an inattentive physician!?

Thank god the worlds going to end after the Olympics. Wouldn't want to miss that.

Can you imagine it? The world ends on the "high" of the London Olympics!

 

[teabagyokel]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Perhaps the TARDIS doesn't rely on mini blackholes. Word is, mini blackholes are as unreliable as black mini-cabs! No surprised the doctor seeks his own transportation...

Unless you're just saying you've been ill & had a visit from an inattentive physician!?

Yeah, he came back later, said I've got 3 years 10 months and 28 days to live. Anyway, the Doctor would surely use technology beyond our comprehension, unless the blackholes are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside.

That's the Inca calendar, isn't it? What do they know? They didn't even have a small hadron collider, did they?

Well, actually, excavations outside Lima, Peru have proved...

 

[Boyle]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

If the world ended before the Olympics, it would totally be worth it just to see the look on Seb Coe's face!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

The dating of dates if you'll forgive the pun is an absolute nightmare which is what makes these "end of the world predictions" such a laugh.

The AD system giving a year 1 for the birth of Jesus wasn't invented until the middle of the 6th century. The Gregorian calendar which we use today wasn't invented until the early 16th century.

It's one of the things that made the 16th century French comedian Nostradamus such a clever bugger. He even managed to predict dates in the future with out knowing that France would adopt a new calendar 20 years after his death.

 

[teabagyokel]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

It's one of the things that made the 16th century French comedian Nostradamus such a clever bugger. He even managed to predict dates in the future with out knowing that France would adopt a new calendar 20 years after his death.

Did he predict the French Revolutionary Calendar? If you're interested today's date by the FRC is Quartidi 4 Brumaire, CCXVIII.

One of the most bonkers parts of the bonkers Revolution*.

*The non-bonkers parts were liberty, equality, fraternity etc.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Did he predict the French Revolutionary Calendar? If you're interested today's date by the FRC is Quartidi 4 Brumaire, CCXVIII.

I expect he did, well either he did or that bloke from Living TV who does that crossing over program. He's good as well. I reckon they must film about 24 hours of footage before editing that down to an hour. Does Sam mean anything to anyone? Joe? Dave? How about Bill? Ah good, So Bill he was your grandfather? No? Er... Brother? Sister....Dog? Ok and he was a German Shepard, I mean an old english sheep dog? A collie oh Blimey I think I've got the wrong Bill, Any one else? Anyone? Please.......

Anyway, Back to this French Revolutionary Calendar. I'm suprised the French haven't mentionend this before and suggested we adopt it as a single European Calendar. Makes perfect sense to me.

The only facts I know about the French revolution is that Mary Atoniette never said "Let them eat cake" it was a myth perhaps made up at the time to stir anti royal sentiment and when the heroic revolutionarys stormed the Bastille to free the prisoners the sum total of the prison population was 5 and they rather inconveniantly for the happy revolutionaries didn't want to play ball and leave because they were quite happy where they were and rather liked it there.

History is a funny thing isn't it?

 

[McZiderRed]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

Whilst we're all waiting for the end of the world (er, I mean the Large Hadron Collider to begin collisions in earnest) , I have been looking at the CERN website, mainly in the hope of gaining an idea of when the serious collisions will start. There is no definitive date as yet for when the LHC really gets going, but I did find a couple of animation vids.

A video explaining the make-up of particles..
Journey to the unimaginably small

A video explaining the Higgs Boson..
Journey to discover the nature of mass (the Higgs Field)

A video explaining how the LHC accelerates particles..
'The Bottle to Bang'

This does all seem jolly interesting, but generally it tends to make by brain hurt! Makes me feel like imple: rather than

The CERN Press Web-page will presumably give details of whether the Higgs Boson is detected, but I expect it will be breaking news on all the rolling news channels! Possibly...

 

[Brogan]

Re: Gods Particle, or, When Particles Collide!

but I expect it will be breaking news on all the rolling news channels! Possibly...

Just before we all fold in on ourselves and disappear up our own black holes...