The God Particle

[Kreskin]

Has anyone been following the development of this massive proton particle beam accelerator in Europe? They apparently want to see if they can create the theorized Higgs particle, which some scientists believe to be a creator of matter. I read about it in National Geographic and found it quite interesting. The particle beam accelerator is called the Large Hadron Collider and they hope to "crack the code of the physical world".

 

[Unforgiven]

Yeah I've been picking up bits and pieces of news since they started to put it together. Big expectations there with the Higgs particle. I wonder where it will end up and ponder what doors will open for the military machinery ten years on.

 

[Praxius]

Yeah I've been picking up bits and pieces of news since they started to put it together. Big expectations there with the Higgs particle. I wonder where it will end up and ponder what doors will open for the military machinery ten years on.

They'll just send their enemies, country and all, into another demension..... then a few years later, they'd come back with swarms of Mutant Bee People from that demension and then launch the Stargate/Sliders Wars.

To bring people up to speed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator and hadron collider located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland.

Currently under construction, the LHC is scheduled to begin operation in May 2008.

The LHC is expected to become the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. The LHC is being funded and built in collaboration with over two thousand physicists from thirty-four countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. When activated, it is theorized that the collider will produce the elusive Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and 'missing links' in the Standard Model of physics and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass. The verification of the existence of the Higgs boson would be a significant step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory, which seeks to unify three of the four fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force. The Higgs boson may also help to explain why the remaining force, gravitation, is so weak compared to the other three forces. In addition to the Higgs boson, other theorized novel particles that might be produced, and for which searches are planned, include strangelets, micro black holes, magnetic monopoles and supersymmetric particles.

Why do I have a nagging feeling that as soon as they turn this thing on and it starts to make these particles, that half the planet will be obliterated?

Meh, who cares?

 

[MHz]

Why do I have a nagging feeling that as soon as they turn this thing on and it starts to make these particles, that half the planet will be obliterated?

Meh, who cares?

Well that would solve half the worlds problems, I'll let you decide which half I'm referencing.

Since 'the world' hasn't done such a great job with gunpowder I wonder why they would want to experiment with something more powerful?

I hope somebody does a collection of the 'political cartoons' this micro black-hole has the potential to create. Like you hint at, 'oops' will be the most common outcome LOL

 

[karrie]

I just love how so many new theorized technologies include that neat little side effect 'may produce black holes'. But, like Prax said, 'meh'. I'm pretty sure that's one of the quicker least painful ways to go... when some megalomaniac scientist implodes the world.

 

[MHz]

Oh, and what if that black hole starts at your toes and works it way up, s l o w l y, how much of your body would you loose before it becomes painless?
I would prefer to be taken head-first, that would seem to be the least painful by any 'stretch' of the imagination! LMAO

 

[Praxius]

Well that would solve half the worlds problems, I'll let you decide which half I'm referencing.

lol, slick response.

Since 'the world' hasn't done such a great job with gunpowder I wonder why they would want to experiment with something more powerful?

Oooo.... *raises hand* don't forget about nuclear technology / splitting atoms... we're still battling who gets what and who will push the button first with this tech, now they think it's a good idea to play around with something that might have created the Big Bang..... Maybe that's what happened to create the Universe we know now. We were on a planet trillions and trillions of years ago, got to this point in technology, and then BOOOOM! Created a Universe over this one, killed/vaporized everything in that existence, and here we are again, ready to do it again.

Man, what a plot twist that'd be.

I hope somebody does a collection of the 'political cartoons' this micro black-hole has the potential to create. Like you hint at, 'oops' will be the most common outcome LOL

I'd say. You'd think we'd sorta make sure we have a grip on the atom, cloning DNA and space travel before we start dabbling into what created the Universe and how.

A monkey with a grenade, we are.

 

[Praxius]

Oh, and what if that black hole starts at your toes and works it way up, s l o w l y, how much of your body would you loose before it becomes painless?
I would prefer to be taken head-first, that would seem to be the least painful by any 'stretch' of the imagination! LMAO

Hmmm, I always though getting run over by a Steamroller feet first would suck. One could always just die from shock halfway through.

But then again, we think we'd die passing through a black hole, since everything kinda get's squished to a fine point of zero... but what if you don't and then you get sucked into an alternative universe, where all the dragons, elves, pixis, dinosaurs and Tiny Tim's disappeared to?

 

[karrie]

Hmmm, I always though getting run over by a Steamroller feet first would suck. One could always just die from shock halfway through.

But then again, we think we'd die passing through a black hole, since everything kinda get's squished to a fine point of zero... but what if you don't and then you get sucked into an alternative universe, where all the dragons, elves, pixis, dinosaurs and Tiny Tim's disappeared to?

Perhaps we're nothing but layers upon layers of black holes. OOOooooo..... I'm gonna go smoke something and come back to this. ;-)

 

[Kreskin]

Link to photos

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/ginter-photography.html

 

[karrie]

*sigh* that's just depressing. All that money. Just so people can look for a particle.

 

[Kreskin]

Somewhere in the NG article they said something about conventional theory of physics in the 1800's, which seemed quite substantial, and how some scientists pushed to know more. As a result they learned about quantum physics and if not for that we wouldn't have computers today. Although most of these kind of things seem to be a waste the knowledge gained usually comes back in dividends.

 

[MikeyDB]

*sigh* that's just depressing. All that money. Just so people can look for a particle.

Karrie

You see I learned something today! I thought they were looking for common sense in an American and all this time it's been about an atomic particle of some kind....!

 

[MHz]

But then again, we think we'd die passing through a black hole, since everything kinda get's squished to a fine point of zero... but what if you don't and then you get sucked into an alternative universe, where all the dragons, elves, pixis, dinosaurs and Tiny Tim's disappeared to?

At the event horizon gravity increases in such a way that you toes are accelerating much faster than even your knees, Say, for example, your knees are at 1g, each inch you go towards your toes, gravity would increase 10 fold. That would make you stretch. In theory that should kind of reverse itself when you hit bottom. It still doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go. If sending messages back from the grave is hard this would be much harder.

 

[karrie]

Somewhere in the NG article they said something about conventional theory of physics in the 1800's, which seemed quite substantial, and how some scientists pushed to know more. As a result they learned about quantum physics and if not for that we wouldn't have computers today. Although most of these kind of things seem to be a waste the knowledge gained usually comes back in dividends.

while I get what you're saying Rick... what have computers done to even out world resources? It still seems crazy, that the west has hit this grand point of technology, while children still starve to death in the dirt.

 

[Praxius]

At the event horizon gravity increases in such a way that you toes are accelerating much faster than even your knees, Say, for example, your knees are at 1g, each inch you go towards your toes, gravity would increase 10 fold. That would make you stretch. In theory that should kind of reverse itself when you hit bottom. It still doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go. If sending messages back from the grave is hard this would be much harder.

Yeah, I've heard of this explination on Black holes.... but I figured that was more so light (what you see) rather then actual effect on matter (Due to the absorbing of light a black hole does) Even if it did do this to matter and pulled the crap out of yourself as you entered..... what if on the other side it spits you out in an equal effect? (Like a Squid in a tube)

But even if it pulls your toes faster then your feet or even knees.... we're still one big attached object and were one part of our body goes, so too does the rest. (like pulling you by the arm, you're arm would move first, but the rest of your body will follow soon after)

But either way this is here nor there... perhaps if they don't blow us up with these tests, we'll know for sure what black holes are all about.

 

[karrie]

Yeah, I've heard of this explination on Black holes.... but I figured that was more so light (what you see) rather then actual effect on matter (Due to the absorbing of light a black hole does) Even if it did do this to matter and pulled the crap out of yourself as you entered..... what if on the other side it spits you out in an equal effect? (Like a Squid in a tube)

But even if it pulls your toes faster then your feet or even knees.... we're still one big attached object and were one part of our body goes, so too does the rest. (like pulling you by the arm, you're arm would move first, but the rest of your body will follow soon after)

But either way this is here nor there... perhaps if they don't blow us up with these tests, we'll know for sure what black holes are all about.

You keep saying 'other side', as if talking about worm holes rather than black holes Prax. I was always told there is no 'other side' with black holes, no?

 

[Dexter Sinister]

But even if it pulls your toes faster then your feet or even knees.... we're still one big attached object and were one part of our body goes, so too does the rest. (like pulling you by the arm, you're arm would move first, but the rest of your body will follow soon after)

In somewhat technical terms, the point is the gradient of the gravitational field versus your tensile strength. Get close enough to a black hole and the difference in the field strength between your toes and your head (that's the gradient, loosely speaking) is enough to stretch you until you come apart.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I was always told there is no 'other side' with black holes, no?

Nobody knows. That's one of the points where relativity and quantum theory--and you need them both to calculate what'll happen in such circumstances--break down and show their fundamental inconsistency.

 

[karrie]

In somewhat technical terms, the point is the gradient of the gravitational field versus your tensile strength. Get close enough to a black hole and the difference in the field strength between your toes and your head (that's the gradient, loosely speaking) is enough to stretch you until you come apart.

Isn't that assuming that something's holding you back at the top? Otherwise, what would stop it from just sucking you in all at once, once it caught your toe let's say, rather than tearing you apart?