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July 9, 2008
the world probably won't end (again)
Speaking of black-holes, scientists in Europe are ready to crank up the Large Hadron Collider. This thing is awesome, so awesome in fact that some people feel like it could end the world. I think the scientists should be more concerned that Europeans are racially insensitive for creating a device that makes black-holes. There no word from Judge Thomas in Dallas on whether he wants an apology.
Here's just a piece of the most racist Collider in the world.
I digress... evidently mankind doesn't have anything to worry about, and the scientists explain why.
If such black holes were naturally flinging around in the universe, they would bump up against "dense cosmic objects," such as neutron stars, and over time the black holes would swallow the star. But, from looking through telescopes we know that there are plenty of old neutron stars around. So, if it's safe for them, it's also safe for us. "Any black hole that could be created at the LHC, even if it is stable, would have no effect on the earth on any meaningful timescale," Slashdot says.If it's good enough for Stephen Hawking, it's good enough for me. I mean really... cosmic rays and neutron stars, who can really argue with anyone that drops those kind of terms into a conversation? Just let the Europeans collide stuff in peace. Maybe they'll discover something amazing like Kool-Aid.
This conclusion is backed by the European agency that runs the LHC, a panel of independent scientists, the US Department of Energy, the US National Science Foundation, and science star Stephen Hawking - who argues that even if black holes developed, "they would instantly evaporate."
Posted by nemov at July 9, 2008 8:39 PM
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Comments
Then again the peer review is focusing on the powerful magnetic fields around neutron stars that may protect them from charged particles. CERN's SPC committee chose not to fully validate that argument either.
Then there are the studies that argue that argue that Hawking Radiation is a flawed, unproven theory that may have no value as a safety argument.
I am still worried, but apparently CERN is not, so you may not have to worry too much about a delay to verify the safety arguments.
LHCFacts.org
Posted by: JTankers at July 10, 2008 9:45 PM