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Deckard
09-07-2008, 05:39 AM
An introduction to the Large Hadron Collider (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7543089.stm) has been published on the BBC website. I'm sure pretty much everyone here knows what it is by now (the most powerful physics experiment ever built, aiming to re-create the conditions just after the Big Bang in an attempt to answer fundamental questions of science and the universe itself)

The scale of this experiment (including the data to be analysed afterwards) takes my breath away.

More guides here...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4670445.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/interactive/2008/jun/30/cernproject

(I've just started reading The Fabric of the Cosmos (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fabric-Cosmos-Texture-Reality-Penguin/dp/0141011114/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220790396&sr=8-1) in an attempt to up my scientific appreciation and understanding - I hated science at school!)

cacophony
09-07-2008, 08:35 AM
i fear this device because deep down inside i'm pretty sure "the big mistake of '38" in the "hyperion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos)" novels was a prediction of disaster.

Deckard
09-07-2008, 10:10 AM
Haha, y'know I don't think we need to worry about those minuscule black holes.

(famous last words)

Sarcasmo
09-07-2008, 11:53 AM
...attempt to answer fundamental questions of science and the universe itself...

Oooh, they're really going to be pissed when they find out the answer is 42.

I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I can't help myself!:o

Deckard
09-08-2008, 04:23 AM
A real groaner! :rolleyes:

And...

Opponents say it cannot be definitively said that in a worst case scenario the collider will not produce micro black holes and dangerous "strangelets".
I mean, can you imagine anything more dangerous than that? :D

Strangelet
09-08-2008, 08:03 AM
the horror!!!!:eek:

BeautifulBurnout
09-10-2008, 06:00 AM
Well. We're still here! :eek::D

I listened to the "event" while stuck in traffic on the M25 this morning and I have to admit to a frisson of excitement as it got off to a false start, then they succeeded in pushing the beam through the first part of the tunnel.

It is a shame that it will be months or years before we know what, if anything, the experiment has proved/revealed/confirmed.

I was amazed at myself for being so interested in physics when I was so crap at it at school, though. :D

dubman
09-10-2008, 10:11 AM
i dont know why it was made such a big deal of now.

the event that people were actually worried about doesnt happen until oct 21. this was just making sure the damn thing could work.

sanakan
09-10-2008, 11:28 AM
without the event today, there'd be no event on oct 21. thus it's a big deal.

dubman
09-10-2008, 11:33 AM
no, what i mean was everybody doomsday-ing
of course it needs to work today to work next month
but the lolocalypse wasnt supposed to happen then, yet everyone was joking that "well guys, 20 minutes left, any last words haha"

Deckard
11-17-2008, 12:43 PM
"Repairing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva will cost almost £14m ($21m) and "realistically" take until at least next summer to start back up."

Disappointing. :( I just hope everything goes right next time round. I've recently been reading up a fair bit on some of the things scientists are hoping these experiments will shed light on, if not confirm or rule out - supersymmetry and string/M-theory, the Higgs field, hidden dimensions, etc. It may take years to analyze, but right now I feel like it can't come soon enough, so the sooner these collisions start back up, the better.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7734251.stm

luminary
11-17-2008, 09:15 PM
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/


;)

TheBang
11-18-2008, 02:46 AM
Err, is this my thread?

Deckard
11-18-2008, 04:07 AM
http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/


;)
Ooh, look, some geek humour under the bonnet too...
<script type="text/javascript">
if (!(typeof worldHasEnded == "undefined")) {
document.write("YUP.");
} else {
document.write("NOPE.");
}
</script>
<noscript>NOPE.</noscript>
</div>

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Deckard
10-20-2009, 11:35 AM
A piece in the (UK) Times that's just........ bonkers!

(There's actually a spoiler to a recently-started US TV series in there, but I can't tell you which one without giving it away, so... umm.... if you've started watching any new series lately, just stick to my quote below and don't click the link ;) )

A particle God doesn't want us to discover (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article6879293.ece)

Explosions, scientists arrested for alleged terrorism, mysterious breakdowns — recently Cern’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has begun to look like the world’s most ill-fated experiment.

Is it really nothing more than bad luck or is there something weirder at work? Such speculation generally belongs to the lunatic fringe, but serious scientists have begun to suggest that the frequency of Cern’s accidents and problems is far more than a coincidence.

The LHC, they suggest, may be sabotaging itself from the future — twisting time to generate a series of scientific setbacks that will prevent the machine fulfilling its destiny.

:eek::confused::D

Sean
10-20-2009, 12:11 PM
A piece in the (UK) Times that's just........ bonkers!

(There's actually a spoiler to a recently-started US TV series in there, but I can't tell you which one without giving it away, so... umm.... if you've started watching any new series lately, just stick to my quote below and don't click the link ;) )

A particle God doesn't want us to discover (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article6879293.ece)



:eek::confused::DIt's always interesting to hear theories like this from minds that understand concepts which, frankly, I never will. But what does make me most hesitant to buy into this is the implication of conscious intent in the sabotage of the machine. I'm intrigued by the concept of the boson creating repurcussive ripples through time, but I just don't swallow the idea that it's acting with intelligent purpose. Great, compelling article though.

Deckard
10-20-2009, 01:23 PM
Perhaps this is also what lies behind the torturous movie-making process of Terry Gilliam... beset by problem after problem - a blockbuster God just doesn't want him to make!

I've scrubbed the rest of this post cos I've just realised I have absolutely no idea what I'm blathering on about! Suffice to say, I'm more inclined to accept that these problems result from this being the biggest, most ambitious machine ever built.

We'll have to wait and see though...

//\/\/
10-20-2009, 02:28 PM
the quote at the end of this story (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568528,00.html?test=latestnews) is the best word on this part of the collider story! :D

jOHN rODRIGUEZ
10-20-2009, 03:15 PM
Appealing to the lunatic fringe?

You do recall you are a member of this forum right?

Deckard
10-20-2009, 03:55 PM
But Prof Cox, ex-keyboardist for 1990's pop group D:REAM, dismissed the hysteria in rock-star style.

"Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a tw—," he said.

Brian. Cox. Rocks.

Deckard
11-08-2010, 06:58 AM
Anyone interested?

Large Hadron Collider successfully creates "mini-Big Bang" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11711228)

They've been smashing together lead ions this time instead of protons. Next 4 weeks will be spent analysing all the data.

Another milestone to note is that they achieved the highest temperatures and densities ever produced in an experiment, over ten trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun (though still a few degrees off the temperature of my work space this past July).

jOHN rODRIGUEZ
11-08-2010, 01:41 PM
Small steps.

Call me a nerd, but I find this very exciting.

chuck
11-10-2010, 06:41 PM
From the link :

Proton collisions could help spot the elusive Higgs boson particle and signs of new physical laws, such as a framework called supersymmetry.

Isn't Higgs in Hawaii - working for Magnum PI?

.
..
...
.....

doh. Damn you wikipedia - it's Higgins.

I'd already got my coat - I'm just wating for the taxi now....

Deckard
11-11-2010, 03:22 AM
From the link :



Isn't Higgs in Hawaii - working for Magnum PI?

.
..
...
.....

doh. Damn you wikipedia - it's Higgins.

I'd already got my coat - I'm just wating for the taxi now....

You silly quark.

froopy seal
11-14-2010, 09:06 AM
You silly quark.But a very charming one.