It’s funny that the Large Hadron Collider garnered so much hysteria in the past few months. The European Center for Nuclear Research or CERN has been preparing for this very moment since the past decade, and it’s only now that India TV finds out about it and wastes no time in creating a ruckus about how the world will end right this second. Or this second. Or this second.
The truth is that however dangerous the Compact Muon Solenoid may appear, the experiment is only more important. The probability of the formation of a black hole is minimum, and even the primordial ones that could be formed, would annihilate in a matter of nanoseconds due to something called the Hawking Radiation. So we are not dying or being gobbled up that soon. Actually, the experiment is of utmost importance- the LHC is operating towards something physicists have been searching for long in vain- the GUT.( No jumping to conclusions, the GUT= General Unified Theory) Now, this principle/equation/theory/explanation is one little true statement that everybody expects to answer to all the mysteries of the universe. .
It’s also something Albert Einstein died searching for. So the normal question is, if everybody is looking for a theory, why does one organization have to spend billions of dollars, hundreds of scientists, 20 miles of space under France and Switzerland and a lot of print space for it? This is where the Higgs boson makes an entry. .
Peter Higgs, a physicist, named a boson (which could be like a carbon nucleus or a photon) after himself, and called it the fundamental particle of nature. Hyper science writers named it the ‘God Particle’. It may seem audacious, but what we are actually searching for is a miniscule spot of energy in a display of fireworks, in the hope to gain a step towards unifying all science. It is, therefore, one of the biggest experiments in the history of science, and all of mankind. In two different directions of propagation, clockwise and anticlockwise, the proton beam will be studied, and answers will be given to elusive questions like the nature of dark matter and energy, and super symmetry, and what actually happened at the time of the Big Bang. I know it’s easy to get freakish, especially with what’s-it News Channel bothering you with the latest Bad News, but happily for them, the machine is down at the moment and promises to make an evil return by the end of the year. But don’t worry; these guys invented the WWW, which is how you’re reading this stuff. They’ll manage, and mankind will have a future..
Ahana Dutta
[Image source:http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/29/us/29collider.span.jpg]
Yes, I read Dr. Hawking’s 1975 conjecture[1], I find it less than compelling, have you read it?
Did you read the 5 part article by Professor Eric Johnson I suggested[2]?
[1] http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS/Repository/1.0/Disseminate?view=body&id=pdf_1&handle=euclid.cmp/1103899181, Particle Creation by Black Holes, S. W. Hawking (12 Apr 1975)
[2] http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2008/10/could-bad-judgi.html
JT, do you know what Hawking Radiation is? A black hole has hair, okay?
Hello Ahana, actually several theoretical scientists studied Dr. Hawking’s theories and concluded that Dr. Hawking was mistaken, micro black holes would not evaporate.
“black holes do not radiate” [1]
“The possibility that non-radiating `mini’ black holes exist should be taken seriously; such holes could be part of the dark matter in the Universe” [2]
“the effect [Hawking Radiation] does not exist.” [3]
“2) infinitely delayed Hawking radiation; 3) infinitely weak chargedness of black holes” [4]
“it is possible that… the behavior of the black hole is stable” [5]
[1] arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0008016, Trans-Plankian Modes, Back-Reaction, and the Hawking Process, Prof. Dr. Adam D. Helfer (2000)
[2] arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0304042v1, Do black holes radiate? Do black holes radiate? Prof. Dr. Adam D. Helfer (2003)
[3] arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0607137, On the existence of black hole evaporation yet again On the existence of black hole evaporation yet again, Prof. VA Belinski Paper. (2006)
[4] http://www.wissensnavigator.com/documents/OTTOROESSLERMINIBLACKHOLE.pdf Abraham-Solution to Schwarzschild Metric Implies That CERN Miniblack Holes Pose a Planetary Risk, Prof. Dr. Otto Rössler (2008)
[5] arxiv.org/abs/0808.2631 On the Stability of Black Holes at the LHC, M. D. Maia, E. M. Monte (2008)
Finally someone counters me. The Hawking Radiation is a mathematically and scientifically proven truth. Any primordial black hole formed will disappear in nanoseconds. No, not disappear, evaporate. Its true CERN should be careful, but thats mainly because of the magnitude of this experiment. And thanks for being the spoilsport to science’s final test.
Hawking Radiation is not a credible safety factor, recent studies conclude that it does not exit.
Some scientists argue that the LHC experiment should proceed slowly and cautiously.
CERN’s current plan to to proceed as quickly as possible in order to prove safety as quickly as possible.
Have you read the set of articles by Professor Eric Johnson starting here?
http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2008/10/could-bad-judgi.html
LHCFacts.org
Yeee!!
I absolutely agree..Indian TV has ruined the fun and excitement of LHC’s experiments..Praises to the author to remind everyone that how India TV protrays CERN’s accomplishments, is not true. For those really interested in CERN’s activities, do check out CERN’s official website, where it talks about all of LHC’s experiments named ATLAS, ALICE, LHCb etc… plus to all those who actually believe “black hole can destroy earth theory”, i’d like to ask them any logic behind this theory?? Is it practically possible to create a gigantic black hole on earth, which is even below nano size as compared to the vast universe, or rather even our solar system!!!