Right this is worrying me..?

Question

Read this =/

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1052309/MICHAEL-HANLON-Are-going-die-Wednesday.html

whats this going on about,

i'm only 13 and don't get it like but i'm worried.

can anyone explain?

Answer 1

Typical tabloid journalism + lack of scientific understanding by the general public = sensationalist claptrap.

Answer 2

They thought that when the first nuclear reactors were made, When the first atomic bomb was tested, and countles other firsts that have been done.

Don't worry about this.

I'd be more worried about the RFID chips they're planning on implanting us with. - Much easier to control a nation with everyone chipped - just point a microwave weapon at them and they're toast.

Answer 3

To quote from the article itself, after all the hoo-ha about the end of the Earth has been dealt with -

'All have concluded that there is no measurable risk whatsoever. Perhaps the best argument against the LHC doomsday scenario is that cosmic rays - natural high-energy particles from space - smash into the Earth's atmosphere all the time with far, far more energy than will be generated by this machine.

If it were possible to create a dangerous black hole by simply bashing atomic particles together, this would have happened naturally long ago, and we wouldn't be here to build this particle accelerator in the first place. So we are safe.'

If the article started off by suggesting that the LHC would be bad for birthday cakes would you be worried?  

Answer 4

bikenbee is correct. The internet can be used for great purposes. But it is also filled with more than its share of trash.

If you look for trash, that's what you will find.

You need to ask yourself where you want to get your information from. Will it be from science websites and journals and books or will it be from some trash tabloid trying to pass off gossip and bad disinformation as facts?

Even a 13 year old should be able to make the right decision here.

If you do not feel able to websurf by yourself, ask your parents to guide you. There is an old saying that maybe you haven't heard yet: Don't believe everything you hear or read.

Personally, I find it appalling that you feel the need to come to y/a for an answer about this than going to your parents for advice. If you have communication problems with your parents, then the end-of-the-world should not be your foremost concern right now.

Answer 5

Please don't panic. As that is what i had done when i had first heard....

Think about it.....If the earth way going to die, wouldn't that be on the front of the news instead of cliff richards and other stuff.

You need to put your faith in God, as he will protect you.

Try not to panic, but if ou can't help it, just talk it through with your mum or friends. I can almost garantee that will make you feel better.

Eat properly, and sleep propaly....

My mum thinks its just a rumour that got out of control....

Think what you like, but try not to worry too much.

Goodluck! Hope everything turns out okay!

*Smiles*

Lauren

XxXxXxXxXxX

Answer 6

Colliding two particles will rip a hole in the universe? Two particles that each have the energy of a mosquito in flight? When there are HUGE, SUPER ENERGY collisions going on elsewhere? No.

Especially as cosmic rays have been doing this for billions of years to the Earth and elsewhere in the Universe at much higher energies. We have still not been sucked into a black hole or have had the Universe being ripped open. What makes you think that the LHC will be able to do this?

Answer 7

I'm a Christian and don't believe any of that stuff.  Hope you believe me and stop worrying about it.

Answer 8

If man could get a black hole to 'stick around for a few seconds it would be a great place to put all our rubbish and other nuclear waste.

Answer 9

There are so scientifically inaccuracies with this article, it would take more time to explain that to read the article sited. Sufficient to say it's all a bunch of c**p. Relax and don't worry.

However, if you would like to learn a little bit more about the LHC, go to the link below and listen to the podcast.

Answer 10

Have no fear, girl, the world is not comming to an end...

Dr Antony

Answer 11

There's nothing to worry about, read all the way to the end of the article:

All have concluded that there is no measurable risk whatsoever. Perhaps the best argument against the LHC doomsday scenario is that cosmic rays - natural high-energy particles from space - smash into the Earth's atmosphere all the time with far, far more energy than will be generated by this machine.

If it were possible to create a dangerous black hole by simply bashing atomic particles together, this would have happened naturally long ago, and we wouldn't be here to build this particle accelerator in the first place. So we are safe.

Answer 12

Did you read everything?... it said

"So is there really a chance that the scientists have made a terrible miscalculation and that their new toy could inadvertently kill us all?

Happily, the simple answer is no. CERN's scientists have in fact commissioned several safety reviews (such as those that have taken place before other big particle accelerators have been turned on)."

Read everything before jumping to conclusions Ma'am...

Answer 13

From what I can see the article is basically conveying the facts, and you can get some good information out of it so long as you take it all with a grain of salt. The real problem with the article is that it deliberately makes the risks of destroying the Earth sound much more significant than they really are. To put it into perspective, you are about as likely to be killed by being struck by lightning and eaten by a shark at the same time as you are to be killed by the results of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiments.

The main concern people have about the LHC is that it will produce microscopic black holes that will consume the Earth. Although scientists do hope to create black holes inside the device, Stephen Hawking has already shown that black holes of that size will explode almost immediately, and would be unlikely even to suck in a few neighboring atoms before evaporating, much less the entire Earth.

The other concern mentioned by the article is that of creating a vacuum instability event, where the energy levels cause the fabric of space to reach a lower energy level that might then propogate throughout the Universe, changing the physics everywhere it goes and causing all solid objects to be destroyed. However, so far we don't have any mathematical model that predicts a lower vacuum state achievable by something as mundane as a particle collider.

There are also a few concerns NOT mentioned by the article. The main one is that the LHC might create strangelets, which are objects made of new formations of quarks. Something like the vacuum instability event, the idea is that strange matter might convert everything it touches into more strange matter, changing the quark makeup of the entire Earth within a relatively short time (possibly under a second) and destroying human civilization in the process.

As is mentioned near the end of the article, cosmic rays impacting the Earth's atmosphere have for millions of years been creating the same kinds of energy levels as those that will exist inside the Large Hadron Collider, and so far the Earth is still very much intact and capable of supporting human life and civilization. Anything produced in the LHC should theoretically be no more dangerous than things which are already being produced right over our heads every day, and since we still exist, the danger posed by the LHC is essentially nonexistent and far outweighed by the benefits of learning more about particle physics.