Super-smasher targets massive mystery

[thomasallencummins]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24525554

God may have been around before then — but as far as scientists are concerned, the big bang is as far back as they can go. And to get back there, they're getting ready to blast subatomic particles so energetically that the extreme conditions of the freshly born universe will be re-created on Earth.

As big as the numbers surrounding the LHC are, the mysteries it was built to address are bigger:

What was the newborn universe made of?
What causes things to have mass?
Why is most of that mass hidden?
Where did all the antimatter go?
Is our entire universe a mere sliver of all that is?

Now hold on just a minute. We're going to start making universes by blindly smashing subatomic particles together? Do we really want to take responsibility for being the "god" of a tiny dimension? Are we up to the challenge? Do we really want all those tiny mouths to feed? Can I keep asking questions indefinitely?

Seriously, very interesting article. ;D

[ram]

That is an awesome picture. And freaky. As in: giant robot arthropod.

Not that concerned about the possibility of creating tiny black holes. Really, I'm not. But I've got The Black Hole to watch in case the world will be ending soon. (Hopefully not before dinner.)

More seriously, if they do find the Higgs boson particle...then who knows? As they said, it could open a door to something beyond the Standard Model. The proverbial "Theory of Everything" could be attained in our lifetime!

[Cad Zombie]

For me, the tiny black hole theory is the least of the worries sorrounding this thing, if it did create them they would be about half the size of a proton and last for a millisecond then collapse on themselves.

The big issue for me in all this is the extra dimension question as well as the possible manipulation of linear time or the proof of non linear time etc.

The worry in this is the creation of a scenario similiar to the movie "The Mist" wherein government experiments open a gateway to another paralell dimension that they have a hard time closing back and whats in that dimension crosses into ours and commences to destroying and eating everything that moves.

The LHC will be at full power in acouple months and the first collisions will supposedly be taking place early next spring, We shall see.

[thomasallencummins]

Sept 20, 2008 9:27:15 GMT -5 Cad Zombie said:

For me, the tiny black hole theory is the least of the worries sorrounding this thing, if it did create them they would be about half the size of a proton and last for a millisecond then collapse on themselves.

The big issue for me in all this is the extra dimension question as well as the possible manipulation of linear time or the proof of non linear time etc.

The worry in this is the creation of a scenario similiar to the movie "The Mist" wherein government experiments open a gateway to another paralell dimension that they have a hard time closing back and whats in that dimension crosses into ours and commences to destroying and eating everything that moves.

The LHC will be at full power in acouple months and the first collisions will supposedly be taking place early next spring, We shall see.

Saw the Mist. Don't want any of that! Now if there were a safe way to create a doorway and enable exploration of another dimension that might be pretty awesome. Don't expect such a thing. As we've seen in film it usually leads to something pretty awful but it would be very interesting. ;D

[ram]

I need to check out The Mist. Yes, far out physics and big special effects movies just go together.