Countdown to man's Big Bang begins


Recommended Posts

Countdown to man's Big Bang begins

Scientists are today preparing to switch on the world's biggest scientific experiment.

The ?5billion Large Hadron Collider aims to recreate the conditions moments after the Big Bang that created the universe.

To do this, a massive 27km tunnel has been constructed under countryside in France and Switzerland near Geneva, which will be used to smash protons together at 99.99 per cent of the speed of light.

Tomorrow morning, it will be switched on and the first attempt to send the particle beam around its entire 27km length will be made.

Experts say the LHC is probably the most complex and challenging scientific endeavour since the Apollo programme put astronauts on the moon.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for physics," said Professor Nick Evans of Southampton University.

"The LHC will help scientists to unlock the secrets of our Universe.

"The great thing about this experiment is that we know we must find something new because our current theories don't explain what will happen at LHC. We have some guesses which may or may not be right, but whatever the results, the LHC will herald a new age in our understanding of physics."

The discoveries made by the LHC could also lead to practical applications, it is hoped.

Major spin-offs have already emerged from earlier particle accelerator experiments at CERN, the European nuclear research organisation based in Geneva where the LHC is housed.

It is credited with pioneering radiotherapy machines and even the world wide web. One of the aims of the LHC is to hunt for the Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle".

The Higgs is said to be the so-far undetected key to mass. If scientists can prove its existence, it could pave the way for manipulating the gravity which exists in all mass - rather like Star Trek "tractor" beams.

Professor Brian Cox, from the University of Manchester, is one of the LHC scientists and also played keyboard with pop band D:Ream. He admitted to having received death threats from opponents of the LHC, who claim it could create black holes which could swallow the Earth.

Scientists dismiss such fears as nonsense. "At every stage of understanding the universe better, the benefits to civilisation have been immeasurable," he said.

"None of these big leaps were made with us knowing what was going to happen."

Source

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's very little that scares me, but scientist doing research with notions such as "the end of the world", well... that kind of scares. Hopefully nothing bad will happen, but there's always that what if...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well its already turned on i would think. it says it'll be turn on this morning. and its been past their morning time already. and nothing bad happened. yay!

:whistle:

runs and hides just incase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well its already turned on i would think. it says it'll be turn on this morning. and its been past their morning time already. and nothing bad happened. yay!

:whistle:

runs and hides just incase.

Being on and being used are to different things. ;)

Who wants to bet once this thing goes active an army of Terminators from the future come back to destroy us?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well its already turned on i would think. it says it'll be turn on this morning. and its been past their morning time already. and nothing bad happened. yay!

:whistle:

runs and hides just incase.

"Tomorrow morning, it will be switched on..."

Not this morning!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The article has a date of 9/9/08 and it says it will be turned on tomorrow morning. I took that as 9/10/08, no?

Either way, stuff like this is very exciting and at the same time scary. Some things are better left unanswered, I like to think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who wants to bet once this thing goes active an army of Terminators from the future come back to destroy us?

Time paradox? :p

Also, I don't see the point in really 'being scared' of this. If something 'bad' does happen, it'll be either so minute that it won't affect anything, or it'll destroy everything in an instant, not leaving any TIME for fear. Though, they're assuring everyone that no such thing will happen, so I'm not really worried.

Anyway, I was planning on cleaning my apartment on Wednesday... I think now I'll put it off until Thursday, just in case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Tomorrow morning, it will be switched on..."

Not this morning!

Ahh sorry. I thought they were to have it fully working today (the 9th). I got confused for a second. sorry haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time I read or hear something about this, a quote runs through my head. It was from Dr. Malcolm in 'Jurassic Park';

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time I read or hear something about this, a quote runs through my head. It was from Dr. Malcolm in 'Jurassic Park';

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Very good quote

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They say that these things happen in nature... but in nature they are not in a 4metre wide tunnel... just like gunpowder out in the open it just fizzes... but put it in a confined space and BOOM...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't believe it's actually going to start. I've been hearing about it for so long. This will big either the biggest bust of all time or it will truely be astonishing. Can't wait to see which.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FoxNews says it will be 1230 a.m. EST

Thats 5.30 in the morning in the UK right? Yet other sites i have seen are reporting it to be at 7.30am in the UK. Thats 02.30 EST right? Or am i calculating this wrong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats 5.30 in the morning in the UK right? Yet other sites i have seen are reporting it to be at 7.30am in the UK. Thats 02.30 EST right? Or am i calculating this wrong?

Either way I will be asleep when it happens. It's a nice way to go. :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well its already turned on i would think. it says it'll be turn on this morning. and its been past their morning time already. and nothing bad happened. yay!

:whistle:

runs and hides just incase.

They won't actually collide protons and anti-protons until Christmas time I thought, they are just making sure the machine doesn't have faults for a bit. This is what I was told anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They won't actually collide protons and anti-protons until Christmas time I thought, they are just making sure the machine doesn't have faults for a bit. This is what I was told anyway.

Hmm theres different storys everywere! we'll all have to see what happens tomorrow! but tbh we are not going to die!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.