CERN says its almost ready to turn on Large Hadron Collider

[Mari333]

Source: iTwire


The press release “CERN reports on progress towards LHC restart” stated, on June 19, 2009, that at the 151st session of the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) Council, CERN Director General Rolf Heuer "... confirmed the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) remains on schedule for a restart this autumn, albeit about 2-3 weeks later than originally foreseen.”

The LHC has been down following a September 19, 2008 event that involved a defective slice in a high-current superconducting electrical cable that connected two magnets in sector 3-4 of the Large Hadron Collider.

The problem led to mechanical damage and release of liquid helium, which further caused damage to a sub-sector of the LHC.


Read more: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/25784/1066/

[Arkana]

1. Why would CERN want to bang really hard dongs together?

Oh, wait, you said Large Hadron Collider...

Well, let's hope it doesn't destroy the Earth like some theories have said.

[Fearless]

5. That's the same thing I read!

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. Everytime I see a headline concerning this, I have a quick Beavis and Butthead moment.

Heh. Heh heh huh. Huh huh huh. They said "hadron." Huh huh heh huh huh.

I think I heard a physicist state on one of the science channels that there are really little itty-bitty teeny-weeny black holes all over the place, occurring more-or-less naturally. I ain't afraid of no Hadron Colliders. (Huh huh huh. He said "hadron...")

[ChickMagic]

29. That's only if Hawking is correct

And Hawking said he made a mistake. I like the idea of teeny black holes - it would explain my appalling memory. :)

[shadowknows69]

2. If Jesus pops out and destroys the world I'm going to be pissed.

Because I turned in my Christian membership card a while back and I guess I'm fucked.

[pkdu]

4. Bill for cleaning red-wine sprayed monitor is on its way! n/t

[shanti]

8. now that was funny!

:rofl:

[kentauros]

50. You still have time to become a SubGenius

:D

Eternal Salvation or Triple Your Money Back!!!

http://www.subgenius.com/

[Kittycat]

3. Cool, I love science.

[Ian David]

6. I welcome our four-dimension hypercube overlords! n/t

[Hissyspit]

17. That's stupid.

Anyone with any basic understanding of astrophysics knows they will be five-dimensional hypercube overlords.

[TrogL]

27. String theory says 11-dimensional

...or is it 14?

[Hissyspit]

36. The 14-dimensional hypercube overlords come AFTER the five-dimensional ones.

We won't be around to see it.

[ItNerd4life]

61. Can we get them to take the Republicans?

When you see one of the overlords, work on it please.

Thank you.

[Odin2005]

7. About dang time!!!

Hope we don't have to suffer through the "mini black holes are gonna kill us all!" nonsense again.

[caseymoz]

14. Fact is, this is such a huge step forward for physics . . .

. . . they don't know what they'll create. It's a tiny bit of a gamble. Fortunately, if by a micro-chance it goes wrong, we will probably die so fast that we'll never be aware of it.

[lindisfarne]

15. Mini black holes won't kill us. But they grow into real big black holes that will.n/t

[no limit]

22. Now you just need the energy to produce a black hole capable of destroying the planet

From what I read that's about as much energy as the sun produces in its lifetime, good luck finding that on earth.

[Milspec]

57. Two words

Flux Capacitor.

:evilgrin:

[no limit]

59. I dont even know if 1.2 jigawatts would do it

but what do I know. :)

[get the red out]

9. Let 'er rip!

I love it, I can't wait until they get going. This will be cool and piss people off. Fun stuff!

[Joe Bacon]

10. Hope this doesn't happen!

Not even Mr. Spock could save us from this!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/63073/the-outer-limits---original-production-and-decay-of-strange-particle

[hyphenate]

11. some people are really jittery about the LHC

regardless. The uninformed masses (read: idiots who don't want to learn science, because it's all right in their bibles) think it's going to begin the Apocalypse, and swallow up the earth as a consequence. I get more entertainment out of the Rapture-Ready crowd, and it's a laugh to watch them squirm!

However, having said that, I am curious as to what end the LHC will be used to further our general knowledge of science, and whether we are on the verge of an unparalled series of discoveries that will make us reel from intensity.

[Codeine]

16. Not just the fundies.

Before the initial startup of the LHC much of the I Hate Science crowd came out in force here at DU.

For all we condemn the creationists and fundies for their anti-science silliness we have our own homegrown strain on the Left that needs fixing.

[Dutch]

25. 'Uninformed masses' who 'need fixing' eh?

For all we condemn the Conservatives and Republicans for their elitist arrogance we have our own homegrown strain on the Left that unfortunately hamstrings efforts to rationally convince people of the merits of the LHC.

[NashVegas]

42. "We Might Find Something Really Cool" Isn't a Meritous Argument

[hyphenate]

43. Oh, totally

I just can't understand that kind of a bias, because, to me, science and the resulting discoveries are more revelatory because in most earth-based sciences, we have the ability to touch, smell, hear and see the fascinating complexity of even the most simple-looking thing, whether it's a leaf, a stone, or the sky itself. No need to fill things in with the faith based stuff.

How these people can arrange their lives denying all of these wonders, attributing it to a "god" (or otherwise) is beyond me. They're losing so much by this way of learning, and will never quite understand the true beauty and design that exists without inserting a deity into the equation.

I have a problem with any person who simply "accepts" blindly the elements surrounding them without asking "why".

[NBachers]

12. I hope they have Dolph Lundgren nearby

in case anything goes wrong.

[KakistocracyHater]

13. they'll NEVER see the Ghost Particle...

I know that now...

[Festivito]

20. So I see, said the blind man. /nt

[KakistocracyHater]

49. why an obscure response?

((((((*))))))))))

[Festivito]

55. Because you don't have to see a ghost particle... to see it.

So, I see said the blind man...
as he picked up his hammer and saw!

I just could not resist is all.

[proteus_lives]

18. Well, if it opens a portal to hell...

Everyone be ready with their shotguns and medkits.

[Frank Cannon]

19. And crowbars

[Towlie]

24. Good thinking! Better practice Half-Life 2 just in case.

[Blue_Tires]

33. "Gordon doesn't need to HEAR all this; he's a highly trained professional!"

[conspirator]

40. at least cheney can go back home nt

[chrisa]

63. Zombies and lava demons.

[mackerel]

64. We're gaining ground on CERN and could possibly

find the god particle first.

http://www.newser.com/story/51003/rival-labs-fight-like-hell-to-find-god-particle.html

[robcon]

21. We usually uncover data and theories we weren't looking for in projects like this.

I'm looking forward to the results.

[AntiFascist]

48. I don't know...

the Illuminati might use it to create a matter-antimatter bomb and then blow up the Vatican. Then again, there's Star Trek and the warp drive!!

[smirkymonkey]

26. Anybody have a list of the Pros and Cons of this experiment?

Seriously? I'm curious.

[jmowreader]

38. Pros and cons, coming right up!

Pros: will allow physicists to find new subatomic particles that are currently beyond the power capacity of the largest operating instruments

Cons: might create a black hole that will swallow up the House and Senate Republican Caucuses, while leaving rational Americans safely in place. (Or would this be considered a pro? It's hard to keep track.)

[TrogL]

28. So I take it the discussion of whether to renew the mortgage for 5 years or 10 is moot?

[derby378]

30. Large Hadron Collider music video!

Get ready to mosh...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ_JZ6K-mHQ

[Mari333]

53. omg that was so frigging cool

Im an old lady and it was cool

[derby378]

60. I'm so glad you enjoyed it

:hug:

[NBachers]

62. Now That's what I'm Talkin' About!

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

31. People are afraid of it because they don't understand it

To be fair, though, not even the people who built fully understand what might happen. But, that's exactly why they built it; to find out.

[derby378]

32. Exploration is one of our biological imperatives

We've explored darn near every square mile of Earth. The heavens await us.

[Posteritatis]

35. More won't than don't, really (nt)

[Blue_Tires]

34. so...will it be over 9000, or will it be "HAI GUISE I DIVIDED BY ZERO..."

"OH SHI-...."

[Codeine]

47. We had one of those "divide by zero" fellows here recently.

Anybody else remember that? A regular poster just gone straight batshit over the issue.

[Joanne98]

37. Can little black holes grow into big black holes?

That's the question.

[dysfunctional press]

39. i guess that we'll find out soon enough.

wouldn't it be cool if it turned out that every black hole was actually caused by civilizations reaching the stage of technical development whereby their (actual) theoretical physicists developed and then utilized a large hadron collider...?
or not.

[atomic-fly]

54. ha! you might be on to something there! nt

[Posteritatis]

41. Not as little as they're expecting. (nt)

[NickB79]

44. No. They will simply evaporate away via Hawking radiation. n/t

[kentauros]

51. That's right and I am counting on that.

However, I haven't read anything that says the same thing for stranglets ;)

[AngryAmish]

45. The first thing we need to do is panic

EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NickB79]

46. LHC won't do anything that doesn't happen naturally on a daily basis

Every day high-energy cosmic rays impact the Earth, the Moon, the Sun and every other celestial body in our solar system, and have been doing so for billions of years. The fact that we're still here shows that this experiment isn't dangerous. All the LHC will do is replicate these impacts in a controlled environment.

The worries about this experiment destroying the world are just silly.

[kentauros]

52. Yes, bombardment happens.

However, I have yet to see astronomers point out a natural phenomenon that is a series of confined streams of high-energy particles being blasted into one another with high-precision. There's a big difference between bombardment and directed collisions. Thus some of the concerns.

Of course, the media focuses on what the public knows (black holes) while ignoring the "stranger" possibilities that could be just as disastrous. I feel nothing will happen, too, or nothing to be worried about. But I think scientists need to avoid saying that there is even an astronomically small chance of something going wrong. If there's a chance, no matter how small, people will latch onto that.

[ThoughtCriminal]

56. Hey - maybe we'll end up in the Single-Payer Universe

Last time they switched the thing on, the McCain campaign went into melt-down and even the media started to notice that Palin was an imbecile. Probably just a coincidence, but just saying...

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

58. Good-bye student loan payment!

:woohoo: