Large Hadron Collider, end of the world?

Question

Can someone tell me what this thing is and why they think its... its logical to do this?! Aren't they supposed to be scientists. Please help cause I am seriously freaking out!!

Answer 1

It is just a big toy that will raise more questions than it will probably answer and so they will need even bigger machines and more money to play their little scientist games. Contrary to what someone else here said this will povide no benefit other than lining the pockets of the people involved. You will not get a better DVD player or micorwave or anything.

All this thing does is accelerate particles and have them collide. It will not end the world. Don't worry about it. Worry more about why money is wasted on things like this or wasted on the military when there are people everywhere with no food, no good place to live, no insurance, etc, etc, etc. It is a shame and a disgrace to humanity that they waste billions to put someone on the moon or build LHC nonsense when they can't even provide everyone with enough food, shelter and other things. It's the old male game of who swings the bigger s*x organ and time and time again it has proven disastrous for people everywhere.

Incidentally I graduated with distinction in physics and went to grad school in astronomy and atmospheric sciences so I am a little familiar with this science stuff. Science was great when it was guys like Newton or Einstein just sort of thinking about stuff but these days we don't seem to have people of this same calibre.  Figuring out things at the quantum level will have no appreciable effect on most people's lives and therefore should be paid for by people like Bill Gates and no public money should be spent on it (except for reasearch of a more practical nature). Of course you will have the people who will tell you of the fallout from the space program but this is very minimal and could have been done much cheaper.

Answer 2

Relax, nothing bad is going to happen. I'm on the opposite side. I can't wait for it to go into full operation.

All the fear hype is a bunch of hooey from people who don't know what they are talking about. They did the same for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the RHIC has been in operation for over a decade.

As with all high-energy experiments, CERN has been under intense scrutiny to ensure every step is taken to safeguard against any catastrophic accident.



Among many goals, physicists are trying to verify the existence of the Higgs boson, which is believed to be the mechanism that gives matter mass, one of the big puzzles in physics.

All we know now is how some things work, but in most cases, not why. There is a lot more at play at the quantum level than we can comprehend, maybe forever. However, when the LHC goes into operation perhaps we will take a massive step in understanding the Universe.

Think of how much scientific research led directly to advancements in medicine, agriculture, aeronautics, chemistry, ecology, mechanics, meteorology, and countless other achievements that saves lives and make life easier, not to mention the ability for us to communicate like this.

Also remember, many, many discoveries were the result of accidental discoveries and serendipity. We (mankind) are very adept at linking apparently innocuous facts to reach valuable conclusions.

Although the energy achieved by the LHC particle beams sounds immense, particles hit the atmosphere every day which are much more energetic. On October 15, 1991, the Fly's Eye in Utah detected a proton (called the Oh My God particle) with an energy of 3.2e20 eV. By comparison, the LHC will collide streams of protons at 7e12 eV each, 20 million times less.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/OhMyGo...

Besides, do you think all the scientists who work at CERN would risk their lives, and the lives of their families?

Answer 3

Try the decaf.  The end of the world is not near, at least due to the LHC.  the "panic" centers on the theoretical creation of mini black holes.  Should they develop, they will evaporate in billionths of a second.  Wear your seat belt, eat your veggies, exercise and you'll be fine.  So will the world.