How likely is it that the LHC will vaporize the earth?

Question

When do they plan to turn it on? I'm on a deadline.

Answer 1

About 10^24 less likly then your lottery ticket being a winner.

Answer 2

about as likely as the LHC multiplying its current maximum power output by a quadrillion.

energy needed to create a black hole out of a particle - 1 220 000 000 000 000 TeV

maximum energy of the LHC - 7 TeV.

see the gap?

Answer 3

You need to read more than just the headlines in the National Enquirer.

There is the remote possibility that the Large Hadron Collider could produce microscopically sized black holes which would last for only millionths of a second. There is absolutely no possibility that these could cause any harm whatsoever.  

Answer 4

About as likely as Nibiru crashing into Earth. A particle accelorator capable of making a black hole that could swallow Earth wold have to be larger than the solar system and this one isn't as large as a state.

Answer 5

r****d ALERT!

Answer 6

No, the LHC won't vaporize the earth itself... the destruction of the earth will occur once they find the Higgs Boson.

Once they do that, Dan Lefontane will come into the laboratory, and say "...But then, something went horribly wrong..." and all of a sudden, all space and time will collapse.

Then and only then, Jean Claude Van Damme will team up with Arnold Swartzeneggar to save us all.

Answer 7

  If it does no one will know.

Answer 8

Not likely. It's already been on for short test periods. I expect that even after it's been operating at full power for a year, we'll still be seeing people asking questions similar to this.

Answer 9

They're firing it up for testing soon. But it doesn't do any real science for months. It's really quite expensive, so they'll do it as soon as they can. This makes predicting the exact schedule difficult.

It may not be able to create a black hole.  But it would be really cool if it can.  Balck holes that small would evaporate quickly, and pose no danger.  How do we know?

Cosmic rays are typically hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons.  So, thry're naked protons..  And they strike the Earth all the time.  Several passed through your body while you read this.  And some of them pack a huge amount of energy, much more than the LHC can deliver.  So if the LHC can produce black holes, then so can cosmic rays..  The Earth is stll here, so it must be safe.

Answer 10

Considerably less likely than your odds of being eaten by a dinosaur.

Answer 11

11 dimensional string theory, (and 26 dimensional M theory), has not produced anything.

It is possible that the extra 7 dimensions of space in string theory, (that are not perceived), are mathematical deception that first appeared with 5 dimensional Kaluza-Klein Theory.

String theory is possibly deception involving adding dimensions of space to the already existing 3 dimensions of space one dimension at a time at 90 degree angles to the previous dimension.

That string theory is possibly invalid is stated at the end of the wikipedia article on string theory.