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Large Hadron Collider Sparks 'Doomsday' Lawsuit
smooth wombat writes "In what can only be considered a bizarre court case, a former nuclear safety officer and others are suing the U.S. Department of Energy, Fermilab, the National Science Foundation and CERN to stop the use of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) until its safety is reassessed. The plaintiffs cite three possible 'doomsday' scenarios which might occur if the LHC becomes operational: the creation of microscopic black holes which would grow and swallow matter, the creation of strangelets which, if they touch other matter, would convert that matter into strangelets or the creation of magnetic monopoles which could start a chain reaction and convert atoms to other forms of matter. CERN will hold a public open house meeting on April 6 with word having been spread to some researchers to be prepared to answer questions on microscopic black holes and strangelets if asked."
Apparently they are unaware of Hawking radiation.... or they are religious nut jobs who are predisposed to not believing in science.
But in the 80s, most scientists dismissed global warming.
(I'm not making the case for the end of the world; I'd have to learn the math and get evil lackeys.)
While you're probably right, it's worth noting that there is both (a) some doubt about the nature of gravity at small scales and high gradients, and (b) considerably more doubt about whether the hawking effect is at all real.
Hawking radiation is, after all, based on the intersection of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Not the best demonstrated, or even defined, part of science.
Is nature doing head-on collisions at energies high enough to produce black holes?
Yes, it'd only alter the *velocity* of the resulting black hole, but feel free to calculate how fast a cosmic-ray-induced black hole would be moving.
orly? math pls