Large Hadron Collider (LHC) generates a 'mini-Big Bang'

[SecularMotion]

Source: BBC

The Large Hadron Collider has successfully created a "mini-Big Bang" by smashing together lead ions instead of protons.

The scientists working at the enormous machine on Franco-Swiss border achieved the unique conditions on 7 November.

The experiment created temperatures a million times hotter than the centre of the Sun.

The LHC is housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border near Geneva.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11711228

[dpbrown]

1. So what happens when they blow up the world?

Seems a little reckless.

[architect359]

2. How would they do that? n/t

[TroglodyteScholar]

45. I dunno...

...they're doing stuff I don't understand, so it must carry some risk of destroying the Earth.

:sarcasm:

[activa8tr]

4. There's a funny video about this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Hmboi0Anw

This was done two years ago when the LHC was first tried out.

Up until now they never succeeded in smashing things.

[no limit]

7. lol, iz you series?

[Posteritatis]

9. That's pretty mild compared to the frothing panic here before the thing started up

People demanding a global referendum on its existence, utterly convinced it'll be the death of us all, citing levels of woo that make astrology and Apollo denial look like Nobel-quality science... it was pretty sad.

[snooper2]

74. Oh, I think the moon shot was better

:)

They are going to knock the moon out of orbit :rofl:

[Posteritatis]

77. "It's more dangerous if they do it at night!"

That was classic, and made me wish headache pills came in steak sizes.

[Confusious]

8. It's not like they spent billions of dollars just to see neat flashes

They did the math. They know what will happen. Sometimes they might have to correct, but the standard model is pretty firm.

[DetlefK]

11. Won't happen. Such events happen every day in astronomy.

We physicists actually calculate what our machine is capable of, before we switch it on.

And for a musical experience: the Large Hadron Rap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

[DLnyc]

34. Are you sure about that?

My understanding was that the energy density in these collisions has not been reached by any natural process since the Big Bang. Unless, of course, we count other intelligent beings somewhere else in the universe conducting similar experiments.

Of course, many processes put out much more TOTAL energy, but I am not sure your statement that "Such events happen every day in astronomy" is accurate as far as energy density.

[Posteritatis]

36. Quite sure indeed; incredibly high-energy collisions in the upper atmosphere are constant. (nt)

[LongTomH]

76. How about: The ATLAS Boogie?

For another musical experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WShZVxPZETw

Or a preview of the ATLAS CD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqnuQ5t4Cuc&feature=channel

[Evasporque]

88. true...I had a big bang the other day...

so did my partner...

[Rebubula]

18. Ahhh...

...I see that knee-jerk lack of scientific knowledge is not inherent ONLY to freepers.

Unless you are intentionally being ironic - in which case - Bravo, sir.

[chaplainM]

41. To paraphrase Bill Maher

There is scientific enlightenment within our grasp, but cavemen are keeping us from reaching it.

[woodsprite]

56. No more Republican Tea Party. n/t

[Javaman]

64. Be truthful...

does it hurt when you think?

[snooper2]

73. ROFL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


I am so making sure my daughter is well versed in the sciences as she grows....

[Codeine]

84. What the heck is that smell?

Ohhhh, I know what it is. . .

[Evasporque]

87. Tea Party will call for congressional investigations into Obama's complicity...nt

[RobertSeattle]

3. Dumb headline

They got temperates near what they were just fractions of a second after the Big Bang, not a mini Big Bang.

[CLANG]

5. Thank God it was just a "mini". And I'm not a believer either!

[Javaman]

65. Believer in what? nt

[no limit]

6. self-delete

[Toward Progress]

10. And fundies everywhere cover their ears...

"Bang? What bang?"

[DavidDvorkin]

26. Some DUers disapprove, as well.

[Toward Progress]

31. Perhaps...

But I'm assuming that their reasoning is based on concern about the potential danger of the experiments rather than a rejection of science itself.

[Posteritatis]

32. You'd assume incorrectly as often as not

It takes a pretty firm rejection of science to react the way some here have to this thing.

[Toward Progress]

33. That's a shame.

But I guess there's common ground elsewhere since we probably wouldn't be all on this site without it.

[Posteritatis]

38. It really is. (nt)

[DavidDvorkin]

44. See posts #15 and #22.

[Vehl]

12. great news for science!

The world needs to invest much more in science rather than on wars...the former benefits humankind as a whole, while the latter only results in the retardation of Human progress.

[Xipe Totec]

13. Is it time for a mini-Big Cigarette? nt

[a la izquierda]

20. I just snortled. Thank you.

That made my day after reading a student paper, in which there was this gem: "Incan religion was of the Devil."

[Journeyman]

14. At temperatures over 10 trillion degrees, a million times hotter than the center of the Sun. . .

how did they keep it from melting the Collider? Was the process so rapid, and depleted itself so quickly, it couldn't burn through the walls of the LHC? Or am I just not understanding the process well enough to understand how it worked? The article doesn't adequately explain this.

[no limit]

16. It's in such a small area it didn't have enough energy to melt the collider.

We are talking about sizes that are unimaginably small.

[Journeyman]

24. Thank you. . .

I suspected as much, but not being a physicist (or even reasonably inclined in that direction) I had to plead ignorant.

Thanks for responding.

[Frisbee]

17. Both incredibly short lived and...

incredibly small.

[Journeyman]

25. Thank you. . .

I suspected as much, but not being a physicist (or even reasonably inclined in that direction) I had to plead ignorant.

Thanks for responding.

[defendandprotect]

15. More Mary Shelley/Frankenstein attempts to be "creators" .... ?

Nature is the enemy for patriarchy --

Pitiful --

[Odin2005]

21. What a very stupid comment.

:eyes:

[TroglodyteScholar]

47. +1

Hey, I know what would make life better...is if science never concerned itself with making advances. That would be awesome!

[defendandprotect]

53. Right ... Mary Shelley knew nothing --- !!! Neither does Mel Brooks ... !!!

[Posteritatis]

55. Certainly not about high-energy physics, they didn't. (nt)

[defendandprotect]

59. We are dealing with patriarchy ... and a mind set re nature ....

After the bombing of her native Bikini Island with nuclear weapons ...

this is what a woman from the Bikini Island said --

"Americans are really smart about really stupid things" --

That's what Mary Shelley wrote about --

that's the conclusion that Mel Brooks arrived at --

Patriarchy is at war with nature --

[Cleobulus]

60. OK, are you even on the topic of this thread?

First off Mel Brooks is a comedian writer and Mary Shelley was an excellent author, neither of which is even pertinent to this thread, so what the fuck are you complaining about?

[Posteritatis]

71. Science in general, looks like; one of those types who believes it's intrinsically evil. (nt)

[Cleobulus]

80. That doesn't make any sense, science is a methodological tool, no different from a...

physical tool, like a hammer, and like a hammer, science can be used in many different ways. A hammer can be used to kill a person by hitting them in the head, or could be used to build a home to house the homeless. Its all in how it is used, you don't discard the hammer just because it COULD be used in bad ways, instead you discourage the bad behaviors. Same applies to science, an example is chemistry, which allows for the theoretical basis for many things, including how explosives work, and provides the knowledge to build them. However, very few scientists end up as mad bombers, but others may use this knowledge derived from the science to build bombs that kill people. And again, we don't discard chemistry because of this potential destruction, but instead try to prevent the science from being misused by bad people.

[Codeine]

85. New Age fundies are just as stupid as Abrahamic fundies.

Whackadoodles on the Left and the Right these days.

[AlbertCat]

57. More Mary Shelley/Frankenstein attempts to be "creators" .... ?

Someone at the Hadron Collider is writing a gothic horror novel???

[NashVegas]

72. +20,000

It's a pity so many refuse to see

[snooper2]

75. I love you D&P

You never let me down :)


I've got an extra pass to check out the moon ship in March if you are interested! :hi:

[Hubert Flottz]

19. John McSame remembers the real thing...(big BANG)

His mammy let him stay up that night, to watch it on TV.

[harvey007]

22. And wasted billions of dollars in the process

No wonder the French protest so vehemently.

What a misappropriation of money.

[jayfish]

28. Yup, totally worthless.

http://www.er.doe.gov/hep/benefits/index.shtml

:eyes:

[jayfish]

29. DUPE

Time for a new mouse.

[miyazaki]

35. Blinded by science. so many here. always cracks me up. n/t

[Cleobulus]

62. Science allows us to see, only ignorance can blind us. n/t

[Javaman]

66. Is that you, yoda? nt

[sofa king]

40. ...he said thanks to the miracle of science.

It was a post typed over a communications system devised by physicists as a response to the threat of nuclear war, on hardware first designed by physicists and engineers to fight wars and then to put humans into space, with electrons donated in part from nuclear power perfected by scientists, and sent out to thousands of readers via geosynchronous satellites devised and implemented by scientists and engineers.

All of which culminated in this one airily dismissive comment, proving beyond shadow of a doubt that all of the billions spent on that technology... was wasted.

[superduperfarleft]

46. This, kids, is what one calls being pwned. n/t

[Zhade]

49. EPIC WIN.

NT!

[Posteritatis]

50. Your Nobel in pwnology will be arriving shortly. (nt)

[NutmegYankee]

54. Wow! Haven't seen Pwnage like that for quite some time.

[Cleobulus]

61. In your excellent pwnage, you forgot to mention the theories behind all those advances

Namely Atomic Theory and Quantum Mechanics.

[lumberjack_jeff]

69. this.

[dbmk]

42. How do you know its wasted?

It is the curse of basic research that it cannot prove itself before it finds what it sets out to find. And even when it succeeds, it is rarely by a measure that todays capitalistic society can quantify at that point.
Yet on the way it tends to find so much more than what it set out to find and set the basis for a lot of the progress that constantly have made life easier, better and longer for most of us.

Nevertheless it is constantly ridiculed and questioned and, frankly, underfunded.

Expanding our knowledge is what we do. Whats the point if we stop exploring?

Now, it is my hope that we can get to a point where noone suffers needlessly at the same time. But who's to say that the solution to a suffering is not exactly what they will find?

Its a frontier, it needs to be explored.

[Posteritatis]

43. Probably stuck in the "good research only makes consumer goods" trap.

People all outraged at the existence of stuff like the LHC strike me as rhetorically identical to certain politicians complaining about fruit fly or volcano research.

[TroglodyteScholar]

48. Get a clue.

Then comment.

[Confusious]

51. Really?

I guess basic research is also a waste of money. Especially the physics that created those nifty USB drives. Or the computer. Or the solar sell.

All of which were funded by the government. Shouldn't have wasted the money. :sarcasm:

can someone save us from Luddites?

[AlbertCat]

58. And wasted billions of dollars in the process

Perhaps the churches and temples of the countries involved could chip in and take up the slack. I'm sure it'd be less than their combined candle budget.

[dipsydoodle]

23. I have that problem occasionally

with baked beans.

[edbermac]

27. I do that after every trip to Taco Bell.

[NuclearDem]

30. Bravo

I also love it when science takes a step forward. :thumbsup:

[Blue_Tires]

37. wake me up when they finally divide by zero...

[boppers]

63. Been done.

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

[Blue_Tires]

82. ?!?

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[greiner3]

39. When the Manhattan Project was ongoing;

The scientists involved had concerns that no one knew if one atomic bomb was exploded would cause the entire world's atmosphere to catch fire and kill all life. I think the only life the atomic blasts caused to go extinct was intelligent life.

[Confusious]

52. That was a joke by Bohr. nt

[Gold Metal Flake]

67. Coolest. Bug. Zapper. EVER!

[lumberjack_jeff]

68. "Mini"? I guess! I couldn't even hear it from here. n/t

[bikebloke]

70. Perhaps it did end the world and we're all dead.

But then shouldn't we be on a tropical island pursued by a smoke monster and hooking up with Freckles?

[Blue_Tires]

83. It created the Matrix and we're all living in it...

[JitterbugPerfume]

78. I just have one thing to say about this

Science is cool!

[jmowreader]

79. They got the LHC to work long enough to do this?

[Posteritatis]

81. The LHC's been working fine for months. (nt)

[Codeine]

86. Bazinga!