You may all know about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN doing it's first test yesterday, 10th September 2008, which will lead up to conducting its first atom smashing experiment on 21st October 2008. Whether you read it in the papers, or heard of its doomsday properties on tv, or like me from Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, you cant help but be slightly worried about the caliber of this gargantuous 'experiment' if it goes horribly wrong.
'Innocuous' as it may sound, the behemoth of a machine (pic above) lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland in a circular tunnel with a circumference of 27km in a depth ranging 50-175 meters! (Guess you can't dig your way to China from there)
The LHC is the worlds most powerful atom smasher, that will accelerate a proton and an electron to 7 TeV energies near to the speed of light (99.999999% of light speed). The collision is expected to produce a plethora of exotic subatomic particles (which includes - see paragraph below).
You may ask what's all this crap for? Well scientists or specifically physicists around the world will attempt to hunt for the existence of the Higgs Boson which has been dubbed as the "God particle". If the Higgs Boson is discovered it will be a massive feat of Humankind, having predicted the most fundamental particle in nature decades before it would be discovered.
So where's the drama you asked? Well, this experiment will create conditions similar to those existing just after Big Bang (similar means exactly but under controlled conditions). And conducting such a simulation requires use of at least ten dimensions, far beyond the three spatial dimensions we are accustomed to. Layman like mua don't get 10 dimensions -.- ??
There has been a lot of speculation about this experiment that it might lead creation of Black Holes on Earth, which would engulf it. It will actually, but they said they know what they are doing. And these possibilities - even as minuscule as 50 million to 1 - scare the heck out of people. It's only 6.8 billion peoples' lives are at risk.
This Large Hadron rap could clear things out...
But personally I don't think it's going to blow up and implode the Earth. It's exciting times for science! Brings out the geek and evil genius in all of us! Anyway, if global catastrophe has to happen, this will be a cool way to perish together right? Rather than war or famine. Just imagine the Eiffel Tower going up like a rocket! Mama-mia! Au secours!! Au revoir cruel world!
What would you do if you knew today was your last day on Earth? The question seems less rhetoric now huh?
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