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

W00t! It's on! But another 30 days...bummer. In addition to that, the real action won't start for a few more years. =/

I feel slightly cheated(I don't know if thats the right word).
I was under the impression that these basic(although important) tests have been going on since May-ish.
Another 30 days for the first collision and at least a year for any real action?!
This is like having pretty good sex that culminates in your partner falling asleep on top of you for a year before getting up to finish.

Checking out the LHC website or any other reputable source instead of falling for the massive hype that the media's once again stirred up for today for no reason would probably have been the right course of action.

Someone posted this on their little forum part at the cern website. Thought it was funny..


"If disaster movies have taught us anything, it is that only when the party is over and everyone is a little tipsy, the problems will arise.

At that point, one lowly scientist (possible of Asian origin) will still be working in his office - despite regular calls of 'Hu! It's all fine, come out here and have some champagne'. He shouts out 'In a minute, I'm just checking something' Then to himself 'This is wrong. This is all wrong. Planck's constant shouldn't be varying like that.'

And then it all goes wrong.

Jeez, were you born yesterday!

Mark my words... come Friday, we'll all be eating black holes for breakfast with lashings of superheated strange milk."

I hope two black holes pop up next to me and my body starts getting pulled in both directions with equal force...but since it effects all of my body (as opposed to if I were pulled by ropes) nothing happens and I just get to feel funny.

They'd have to somehow be formed so that they go into mutually exclusive orbits around Earth... but okay.

Originally Posted by Xei

They'd have to somehow be formed so that they go into mutually exclusive orbits around Earth... but okay.

I thought the reach of the holes they were going to create were very tiny...They could just follow around my head for a little while.

Originally Posted by Sandform

I hope two black holes pop up next to me and my body starts getting pulled in both directions with equal force...but since it effects all of my body (as opposed to if I were pulled by ropes) nothing happens and I just get to feel funny.

a), being pulled in both directions constitutes a tension and would result in you being ripped apart, and b) tidal forces from being so close to two singularities would rip apart the two pieces formed by (a).

Originally Posted by drewmandan

a), being pulled in both directions constitutes a tension and would result in you being ripped apart, and b) tidal forces from being so close to two singularities would rip apart the two pieces formed by (a).

First let me start with point out a) is false. Being pulled in equal but opposite directions only allows for a rip if force isn't exerted equally throughout the entire system (however with a black hole force would be exerted to all of my body, not just pieces).

Second, I should have clarified, I meant black holes that were in a sufficient angle to allow for equal direction of pulling, and not just equal force. Being only two there wouldn't be enough equal angular force against me...so I probably should have said a system of black holes with in proximity to me in the exact setup that would allow for equal angular force throughout my entire body.