Thread: May 2008 (LHC) Particle Accelerator - Miracle or Catastrophe?

I'm currently reading a science fiction book, also about travel in time and space.

But, people actually believe in that in contexts other that science fiction books?

*wormholes, if it was possible to create them just by having a high density of energy in a location in space (which sounds highly implausible to me, but i do not know enough to counter it), would only ever last a fraction of a second due to quantum effects. To hold a wormhole open, which is of a practical size, would require stupendous amounts of energy.
*wormholes allow travel in time only indirectly - they connect two areas of space, and to allow time travel, these two areas, or the two "openings" of a wormhole would have to be in relativistic motion. And never would travel to a time before the wormhole was created be possible.
*no one has ever proved wormholes. They are so far only a theoretical interest. We know almost nothing about spacetime itself.
*The amount of energy density provided by the LHC is not that extraordinary. Naturally existing particles (detected on Earth and called "cosmic rays") have sometimes very high energies. Some naturally existing cosmic ray particles have been found to be around 100 million times the energy density that the LHC will produce. These are ofcourse very unstable, and therefore very rare - but nevertheless existent.

I do not know enough to conclusively counter the possibility of a wormhole connecting us to some distant planet with a more advanced civilization (but not in the future), but anyways this discussion feels like wondering whether "Harry Potter" really could do magic.

Originally Posted by george

I'm currently reading a science fiction book, also about travel in time and space.

But, people actually believe in that in contexts other that science fiction books?

sounds like a interesting book, whats it called? I am not entirely sure what this has to do with LHC but still sounds interesting

They're fantasy books with science fiction in them, by Madeleine L'Engle, "A wrinkle in time", and "A wind in the door".. They're enjoyable, but nothing serious.

Originally Posted by george

They're fantasy books with science fiction in them, by Madeleine L'Engle, "A wrinkle in time", and "A wind in the door".. They're enjoyable, but nothing serious.

nice one, I like that stuff so it could be a good read, would you recommend them?

I would, they're easy reading. It is more like fantasy-science fiction for children though, so don't have too high expectations

The LHC isn't trying to create a wormhole, They're trying to do a lot of things and one of them is creating a black hole.
and i thought in "A wrinkle in time" they use tesseracts to travel.

Originally Posted by Pyrofan1

The LHC isn't trying to create a wormhole, They're trying to do a lot of things and one of them is creating a black hole.
and i thought in "A wrinkle in time" they use tesseracts to travel.

We actually have the power/energy to do that now? wow...i must be living in the stone ages under a rock.