The hadron collider in geneva?

Question

will it be the end of planet earth when it is switched on this saturday.?

what happens if they succeed in creating a black hole? and then cant get rid of it?

will it swallow the earth?

why dont scientists stop meddling in things they dont understand?

Answer 1

First off, when the switch it on this Saturday, it will be ONLY for low-power testing to make sure it was installed correctly.  So NOTHING is going to happen this week.

Each individual part has to be tested first. It does not go full power until 2012.

Second, it is not capable of producing large black holes.  It may not be capble of producing even small ones!  Fact is NOBODY has ever actually seen a black hole.  They don't even know for sure if they exist.  

Black holes are still completely theoretical. And part of that theory is that black holes evaporate by giving off "Hawking Radiation", named after that scientist who is in a wheel chair and talks with a computer.  The smaller the black hole the quicker it evaporates.

Now, because black hole COULD be powerful (IF they exist) it take a HUGE amount of power to make one -- like the power of a collapsing sun.  The Hadron Collider does not have that much power.

So, IF the Hadron Collider can produce a black hole at all, it will be VERY small -- about the sizE of an atom.  Because it is so very small it wil evaporate in less than a second. The ONLY way that they know it was every there will be to measure the resulting Hawking radiation.

And even so, none of this happens until it is all tested and brought up to full power -- in 2012.

BTW: That is the job of a scientist - to meddle with things they don't understand.  That is how we make scientific discoveries -- by trying to understand that which is not yet understood.

Answer 2

Best scenario, they learn a lot.

Worst scenario, at least I won't have to go back to work.

Answer 3

I don't believe that any such catastrophe will happen - it is mnore powerful, but not a lot more powerful, than the pre-upgrade, blackhole free version

Answer 4

Yes it is a doomsday machine and pretext for "Project Bluebeam".

Clearer heads are trying to stop it:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2...

Answer 5

Ooh, ooh, ooh!

Would that be Dec 21, 2012 that it goes to full power?