The only data the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has produced thus far is a powerful (but debunked) urban myth—that the particle accelerator buried under the Swiss-French border will generate apocalyptic black holes.

But today, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced that the LHC will go online on September 10. On that day, researchers will activate particle beams within the 17-mile-long ring, and the world’s most powerful—and most talked about—particle accelerator will begin collecting experimental data. The LHC’s research potential is staggering, with physicists hoping to use the accelerator’s extremely high-energy proton collisions to generate a range of theoretical particles. Some of those particles could help us to understand the nature of mass, including the as-yet-undetectable dark matter that accounts for so much of the universe’s mass. Other particles might prove the existence of extra dimensions, or lead to entirely new theories or physical laws (this musical explanation gives a good introduction to the LHC).

Until its debut in September, and possibly for the entire lifespan of the LHC, rumors of its doomsday potential are likely to persist, fueled by reports of its unprecedented power and potential. Physicists have pointed out that the microscopic black holes the collider could generate would disappear almost instantly, without wreaking any havoc on the accelerator or the rest of world. But for anyone convinced that the LHC’s impending activation is a countdown to doomsday, the hand-wringing should commence this weekend, when the accelerator will host its first actual particle beam. As part of a scheduled injection test, the LHC will be closed off this Friday, and researchers at CERN will fire protons through one of the eight sectors that make up the sprawling concrete-lined collider tunnel.

The purpose of this test? “It’s, ‘Let’s see what happens,’ ” says Judy Jackson, head of the Office of Communications at Fermilab. “It’s a very complex machine. This is a step towards getting ready.”

As the LHC quietly marks a milestone this weekend, its inaugural run on September 10th will arrive with considerably more fanfare. The Bataiva, Illinois-based Fermilab, a Department of Energy-funded physics lab, will host what Jackson calls “a pajama party” for researchers and members of the media. So when the accelerator goes online at 9 am in Europe., it will be 2 am in Illinois, and data will begin simultaneously streaming into Fermilab’s remote operations center, an exact replica of the LHC control room. Champagne will no doubt be raised—on more than one continent—and new scientific frontiers might be reached. And the world, we are assured, will not end.

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]]> http://zannerman.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/legal-bid-to-stop-big-bang-test-that-may-end-the-world/ Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:35:25 +0000 zandocomm http://zannerman.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/legal-bid-to-stop-big-bang-test-that-may-end-the-world/ THE biggest-ever experiment to unlock secrets of the Big Bang could cause the end of the world, say scientists trying to get a court to stop the plan.

Opponents fear the $A9.3 billion Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, which will smash pieces of atoms together at high speed to generate temperatures of more than a trillion degrees centigrade, may create a mini black hole that could swallow the planet.

The facility is due to go live on September 10.

The scientists have lodged a lawsuit at the European Court for Human Rights against 20 countries that fund the scheme.

But the project’s scientists dismissed the fears as “absurd”.

Large particle colliders have been used by scientists to smash atoms together for more than 30 years, but the LHC is the biggest and most powerful ever built.

It will fire atomic particles around the 27.3km circular tunnel 11,245 times a second before smashing them into each other.

The result will, for a split second, replicate the conditions that theoretically existed in the moments immediately after the birth of the universe, known as the Big Bang.

Opponent Otto Rossler says it could instead spawn mini black holes which, within four years, could grow big enough to suck the earth inside out.

They claim the experiment violates the right to life under the European Convention of Human Rights.

Professor Rossler, a German chemist, said the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has admitted its project creates black holes but doesn’t consider them to be a risk.

“My own calculations have shown it is quite plausible that these little black holes survive and will grow exponentially and eat the planet from the inside,” he warned.

“I have been calling for CERN to hold a safety conference to prove my conclusions wrong but they have not been willing.”

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This could be your last time to make a difference in this world contact the lhcdefense.org before September 10, 2008. All of us can make a difference.

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