Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe

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Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe

Postby Rigorous Intuition » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:46 pm

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Thu Sep 7, 2006 09:38 AM </em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>NORWICH (Reuters) - Deep underground on the Franco-Swiss border someone will throw a switch next year to start one of the most ambitious experiments in history, probing the secrets of the universe and possibly finding new dimensions.<br><br>The Large Hadron Collider -- a 27-kilometer long circular particle accelerator -- at the CERN experimental facility near Geneva will smash protons into each other at unimaginable speeds trying to replicate in miniature the events of the Big Bang.<br><br>"These beams will have the kinetic energy of an aircraft carrier slammed into the size of a zero on a 20 pence piece," Brian Cox of Manchester University told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.<br><br>"We are going to make mini Big Bangs. There has never been such a jump in particle physics. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>It will go into an area that we don't really understand</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->," he added.<br><br>The fundamental goal of the massive machine is to answer the basic but crucial question of how matter was created at the birth of the universe.<br><br>"We don't know what 95 percent of the universe is made of -- which is a bit embarrassing for a subject that claims to be fundamental," Cox said. "There is Dark Matter. It is all over the place but we have no idea what it is."<br><br>DARK ENERGY<br><br>"There is also something called Dark Energy, and that is an even bigger question. It makes up about 70 percent of the energy in the universe but again we have absolutely no idea what it is.<br><br>"It is an incredibly exciting machine. It will be turned on next year and run for at least a decade and probably 20 years and the first results -- if the machine behaves itself -- should start coming out within a year," he added.<br><br>If the theories are correct, the machine will create tiny Black Holes that evaporate and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>possibly even find particles that offer evidence that the three dimensions known to mankind are just a fraction of those that actually exist</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.<br><br>"That would be an even bigger headline than the Black Holes. It could be that there is a whole new universe a millimeter away from our heads but at right-angles to the three dimensions that are here," Cox said.<br><br>"That would be a real paradigm shift -- our relegation to a little sheet in a multi-dimensional universe. That kind of thing is really profound and will capture the imagination that perhaps the origin of mass won't, although it should.<br><br>"<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>For the first time in many decades we have built a machine that exceeds our powers of prediction</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. New processes are bound to be discovered," he added. "We are truly journeying into unknown territory."<br><br>Cox dismissed worries that by adventuring into the unknown and creating tiny Black Holes, the machine could even threaten to destroy the planet.<br><br>"The probability is at the level of 10 to the minus 40," he said. <br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=13418682&src=rss/scienceNews">Reuters</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/">LHC homepage</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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deja vu

Postby 5E6A » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:03 pm

Here again we see science reaching for understanding that is present already. What should mankind pursue? The devastation of environment through super-collider, or the cultivation of plant matter in ayahuasca, psilocybin or peyote to gain insight to the concomitant planes of existence? Agendists push wants vs. needs. Agendists want you to despite the should you do... <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:58 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>"We are going to make mini Big Bangs. There has never been such a jump in particle physics. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>It will go into an area that we don't really understand</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->," he added.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.cineclub.de/images/1998/01/event-horizon-1.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>"Liberate tutu me ex Infernis.."</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <p>____________________<br>Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.</p><i></i>
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Re: Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe

Postby thrulookingglass » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:42 pm

Ok, I suppose I'm viewing this through the lense of a 'conspiracist', but I'm aware of a project to build a super-collider in Texas that was cancelled by congress...<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sup...r_Collider</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>What if these machines do reveal "paradigm shifting" results and the reason for not constructing this device was, well you know where I'm headed...<br><br>Seems odd the US didn't want the biggest, baddest, most energy consuming collider on the planet. Least we still have the super big gulp!<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:52 pm

Fear of the unknown masked as humor aside, I'm all for unvieling what we can and further our understanding of 'Nature'. There are many things in this world I'd like to have understood(even certain things that have literally terrified me in the past), and pushing fear of the unknown aside I think is neccessary. One thing the Science Community has traditionally failed at unremittently, especially with the loss of Sagan, (despite whatever people's <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>RI</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> opinions of him are here, he was a boon to communicating Science to the average person) is find effective means of establishing trust in the lay community. There's a reason faith triumphs so easy over Science, and that's because zero work is involved.<br><br>You can't beat a cop-out that's absolutely free of charge.<br><br>Science has always had it's work cut out for itself, but the further ahead it grows from normal people, the more exotic it becomes, the more laborious the justifications and seductions will have to be made without instigating that age old fear. I laugh at my own fears sometimes, but I couldn't be honest here without saying based on certain experiences of my own, a part of me is scared to death of what would crawl through that space pried open or what the increased vision would render onto us(I'm thinking 'From Beyond' here, as in the film and story).<br><br>It's ironic that Science's advance is largely maligned due to the fact that it was(or to me appeared to have been) born of a need in Man to escape the fear of the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>original </em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->Unknown that already existed in the first place, so when does it fear of the Unknown become fear of <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>more</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> of the Unknown?<br><br>On the lighter side, maybe experiments like these will one day explain why a box of Golden Grahams only lasts 24-36 hours in my home.. <p>____________________<br>Some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night.</p><i></i>
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Science justifying itself .

Postby slimmouse » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:43 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Here again we see science reaching for understanding that is present already.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br> Surely this is simply Science manifesting itself in its natural environment, given the current climate of carefully orchestrated and increasingly globally pervasive 'mammon worship' ?<br><br> Money is merely the ultimate current tool of control for those who have controlled us ever since. <p></p><i></i>
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wow

Postby smithtalk » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:10 pm

total solar systemic destruction?<br><br>The probability is at the level of 10 to the minus 40<br><br>ahh, i feel much better, do you? <p></p><i></i>
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This is cool

Postby monster » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:20 pm

This absolutely rocks. Trying to discover the fundamental nature of reality is a Good Thing. <br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: This is cool

Postby streeb » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:32 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>You can't beat a cop-out that's absolutely free of charge.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Well said!<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I couldn't be honest here without saying based on certain experiences of my own, a part of me is scared to death of what would crawl through that space pried open or what the increased vision would render onto us(I'm thinking 'From Beyond' here, as in the film and story)<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>See also, "X - The Man with X-Ray Eyes." <p></p><i></i>
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Re: This is cool

Postby smithtalk » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:45 pm

discovery - great thing, curiosity - marvelous<br><br>and i am personally appreciative of those piopneers who stuck things in their mouthes so we can have medicine etc<br><br>but the equation with this kind of stuff is totally different,<br><br>small group of pioneers asking fundamental questions<br><br>result<br><br>goodbye everything<br><br><br>thats a hell of an experiment <p></p><i></i>
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Re: This is cool

Postby widowson13 » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:00 pm

On one hand it is interesting to speculate about what they may discover. <br><br>On the other, I think that these people won't stop until they figure out how to break the etheric barrier around this planet. <p></p><i></i>
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safety concerns:

Postby Rigorous Intuition » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:14 pm

people both inside and outside of the physics community have voiced concern that the LHC might trigger one of several theoretical disasters capable of destroying the Earth or even the entire universe. These include:<br><br> * Creation of a stable black hole[7]<br> * Creation of strange matter that is more stable than ordinary matter<br> * Creation of magnetic monopoles that could catalyze proton decay<br> * Triggering a transition into a different quantum mechanical vacuum (see <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>False vacuum</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->)<br><br>CERN performed a study to investigate whether such dangerous events as micro black holes, strangelets, or magnetic monopoles could occur.[8] The report concluded, "We find no basis for any conceivable threat." For instance, it is not possible to produce microscopic black holes unless certain untested theories are correct. Even if they are produced, they are expected to be harmless due to the Hawking radiation process. Perhaps the strongest argument for the safety of colliders such as the LHC comes from the simple fact that cosmic rays of much higher energies than the LHC can produce have been bombarding the Earth, Moon and other objects in the solar system for billions of years with no such effects.<br><br>However, some people remain concerned about the safety of the LHC. As with any new and untested experiment, it is not possible to say with utter certainty what will happen. John Nelson at Birmingham University stated of RHIC that "it is astonishingly unlikely that there is any risk - but I could not prove it." <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider#Safety_concerns">en.wikipedia.org</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum">False Vacuum</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->:<br><br>The possibility that we are living in a false vacuum has never been a cheering one to contemplate. Vacuum decay is the ultimate ecological catastrophe; in the new vacuum there are new constants of nature; after vacuum decay, not only is life as we know it impossible, so is chemistry as we know it. However, one could always draw stoic comfort from the possibility that perhaps in the course of time the new vacuum would sustain, if not life as we know it, at least some structures capable of knowing joy. This possibility has now been eliminated.[7]<br><br>The possibility that we are living in a false vacuum has been considered. If a bubble of lower energy vacuum were nucleated, it would approach at nearly the speed of light and destroy the Earth instantaneously, without any forewarning. Thus, this vacuum metastability disaster is a theoretical doomsday scenario. This was used in a science-fiction story by Geoffrey A. Landis in 1988 [8].<br><br>One scenario is that, rather than quantum tunneling, a particle accelerator, which produce very high energies in a very small area, creating sufficiently high energy density as to penetrate the barrier and stimulate the decay of the false vacuum to the lower energy vacuum. Hut and Rees,[9] however, have determined that because we had observed cosmic ray collisions at much higher energies than those produced in terrestrial particle accelerators, that these experiments will not, at least for the foreseeable future, pose a threat to our vacuum. Particle accelerations have reached energies of only approximately four thousand billion electron volts (4 ×103 GeV). Cosmic ray collisions have been observed at energies of 1011 GeV, the so-called Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit. John Leslie has argued[1<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 0] --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/alien.gif ALT="0]"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> that if present trends continue, particle accelerators will exceed the energy given off in cosmic ray collisions by the year 2150.<br><br>This disaster is contingent on our living in a metastable vacuum, an issue which is far from resolved (see [11]). Worries about the vacuum metastability disaster are reminiscent of the controversy about turning the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider on.<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Giant machine set to probe secrets of the universe

Postby yesferatu » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:24 pm

They satrted building one of these in Texas and then scrapped it.<br><br>So instead of progress, Texas gave us Bushit. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: safety concerns:

Postby yesferatu » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:37 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>the LHC might trigger one of several theoretical disasters capable of destroying the Earth or even the entire universe. These include:<br><br>* Creation of a stable black hole[7]<br>* Creation of strange matter that is more stable than ordinary matter<br>* Creation of magnetic monopoles that could catalyze proton decay<br>* Triggering a transition into a different quantum mechanical vacuum (see False vacuum)<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>I know I will get heat for this....but I'm all for gambling our total annihilation when the pot is as high as this. Onward science. Damn the torpedoes. <br>All scenarios sound painless. Even if they were painful ends, I say the possible acquirement in knowledge more than justifies breaking down the gates of hell.<br>Break on thru to the other side. Come on, who's with me?<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: safety concerns:

Postby Avalon » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:57 pm

Can't we ask the machine elves, or the other entities some people encounter, to give us the answer in terms the experimenters can understand, so they'll stop bothering us? <p></p><i></i>
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