Large Hadron Collider
Oh just turn the damn thing on already...
Either it's going to work or hit the ultimate Ctrl-Alt-Delete button...
This waiting is giving me the shits
Either it's going to work or hit the ultimate Ctrl-Alt-Delete button...
This waiting is giving me the shits
Of course, that might be because it hasn't actually DONE anything yet. You see, they turned it on, but they're only sending beams in one direction right now. These are test runs, to make everything is working the way it is supposed to (which apparently it is... except the first time they tried to turn it on, it wouldn't work, so they just turned it off and then turned it back on again). After the official unveiling in October, they plan on actually colliding some Hadrons by the end of the year. THAT is when the shit (or shite, if you prefer) may or may not hit the fan.
Of course, the Bevatron didn't kill us all, the Tevatron and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider haven't killed us all yet, much like the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and the giant toys the CERN people made leading up to the LHC didn't do it either, so most likely neither will this one. Magnetic monopoles, micro black holes, strange matter, vacuum bubbles... sure, all these things COULD happen, but they haven't yet.
Of course, that won't stop them from trying. They're already trying to build the International Linear Collider, and the same people who built the LHC are working on a project called the Compact Linear Collider to rival it. If all those projects don't cause the complete destruction of existence, there are already people talking about the possibility of making a VLHC, which stands for "Very Large Hadron Collider."
Personally, though, what I'd keep an eye one would, in fact, be the machine we're talking about here, the LHC, and the reason for that is simple: while the massive device they just turned on has the potential to end all that is, it will be even MORE likely to do so when they upgrade it to the Super LHC, which will increase the amount of energy they're dealing with by something between a factor of four and a factor of ten. But it isn't the fact that they'll be super-charging the thing that makes me think it should be watched, it's when they're going to do it. The proposed date is somewhere in 2012.
On a somewhat less unhappy note, while writing this I had a thought: what if their meddling did, indeed, bring about the destruction of life as we know it, but in a way they are not expecting? What if they succeed in creating and/or discovering Higgs bosons, dark matter, dark energy, gravitons, supersymmetric partners, strangelets, monopoles, and/or any other previously unknown particle, and the disruptions caused by their meddling tear apart the barriers... wouldn't that be absolutely delicious? >=)
Reply
PROVIDED
They actually do something with it...
Ideally, As far as I am concerned, the BEST case scenario would have been that they tear a rift in "Reality" and we can get back to the good old days (pre-wall) or that any possible galactic neighbours realise what the boffins where up to and launch a full-scale invasion to stop them
See the trend forming here? ;)
Reply
Still, I think it would be HILARIOUS if they didn't find the Higgs boson. Because from what I've read, that basically throws everything they've come to accept as far as advanced physics out the window, and they'll have to start all over again. I can just see a bunch of physicists sitting around in like ten years, with their hands in their lab coat pockets, watching them dismantle the thing and shut it down, having a conversation like this:
"So... no Higgs."
"Nope."
"Huh."
...
"Sooo... now what?"
"I dunno... I've kind of always wanted to be a professional bowler. You?"
"I think I'll drink myself into an early grave."
"Sounds good. See ya around."
*wanders off, idly kicking a rock, which proceeds to rocket straight up into the air for no apparent reason*
"*sigh*"
Reply
Leave a comment