Collider stirs debate

[Dr T]

An article on MSN today "Discoery or doom? Collider stirs debate by Alan Boyle has this quote in it

But if the feedback so far is any guide, the real headline-grabber is the claim that the world's most powerful particle-smasher could create microscopic black holes that some fear would gobble up the planet.

and it make me chuckle. Just imagine. or this ?

[DigitalShadow]

I heard about that a while back when some idiot basically tried to sue them for making a 'doomsday machine'. As far as I know, there is no credible threat other than from people who take sci-fi way too seriously. Even if a microscopic black hole did occur, it would evaporate away just as quickly by releasing Hawking radiation.

The only debate is whether science should be held up every time someone with no training in the field fears the end of the world will occur.

[Dr T]

yeah, the "microscopic black holes" made me laugh. Do they know how BIG the Earth is?

[DigitalShadow]

yeah, the "microscopic black holes" made me laugh. Do they know how BIG the Earth is?

Well, the idea of a black hole is that it is so dense, that any matter that comes near enough to it (past the event horizon) will inevitably sucked in by the gravity and it will continue to grow. It is theorized though that black holes actually do lose mass though through Hawking radiation though so a microscopic black hole would simply evaporate before it could do any damage. It is also very very very unlikely that the collider would create any kind of black hole though, microscopic or otherwise.

[Dr T]

"Microscopic" is the key word there.

[DigitalShadow]

"Microscopic" is the key word there.

Yes, but without Hawking radiation, even a "microscopic" black hole would devour the earth.

[NeuroTypical]

But... but... there's a video! Surely we should flail around panicking!

Youtube Vid - CERN Black hole

LM

[checkerboy]

Oh man I heard a cool audio book about this once. I believe it was called "Singularity." The premise was that it was actually a microscopic black hole that caused the Tunguska explosion and that the black hole was eating up the core of the earth or something like that.

[Dr T]

can we make one and send it to Sallie Mae?

[BenRaines]

Hey the end of our existence will come some day. Who knows what will be the cause. If we want to do all we can to avoid it lets go back to living in caves and die before we are 30 and the planet will live much longer, we won't but the planet will.

Ben Raines

[Bookmeister]

Hey, if I'd just spent 50 gazillion dollars on the world's largest particle cannon, I'd want to shoot the thing off, too!!!

[a-train]

There goes the galaxy...

....See ya after the next Big Bang. Hopefully there are no mosquitoes next time.

-a-train