Slashdot Mirror


Large Hadron Collider Goes Live September 10th

Naznarreb writes "CERN announced today that the first attempt to circulate a beam through the Large Hadron Collider will be on September 10th, 2008. You can read the press release here. They also announced the event will be webcast live. According to the release, they're just planning to run a few tests laps, not smash any particles, so the world won't be ending quite yet." And despite that September 10th date, according to the BBC, "On 9 August, protons will be piped through LHC magnets for the first time."

8 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Re:September 10th? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    No. Cool down. The reason that everyone has been waiting for the last couple of months is for the system to cool to less than 2 K. That is what is limiting the operation of the complete LHC.

  2. Obligatory LHC by psyclone · · Score: 4, Informative

    The other LHC

  3. Re:Get your affairs in order, people by Gotung · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is virtually zero chance the LHC will produce micro-black holes.

    Even if it somehow does, they will very likely dissipate in fractions of a second.

    Even if they doe form, and are stable, they will be so small so as to sink to the center of the earth and star devouring it at the alarming pace of 1 atom a year.

    For frame of reference you have about 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in your body.

    So it would take billions of lifetimes (or more) for you to even notice the effects if one were stuck in you.

  4. Re:Get your affairs in order, people by SBacks · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sorry to self-reply, but even once it got going, it wouldn't destroy us immediately. A black hole with the mass of the Earth still only has Schwarzschild radius of 1.5cm.

    http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/blkhol.html

  5. Re:September 10th? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    And, like you, the "damn n00b" missed the joke.

  6. Re:September 10th? by Rycross · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Two degrees Kelvin" is actually improper terminology. Kelvin does not use the degree simple. You simply say "Two Kelvin."

    On another hope, I really hope you weren't joking with that. If so, then I just got whooshed!

  7. Re:Top 10 Ways to DESTROY the Earth!!! by clone53421 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You don't know much about physics, do you? Gravitation acting alone would indeed cause it to oscillate forever. Think of it in terms of conservation of energy: potential energy varies with height, and since total energy must be conserved, every time the velocity is reduced to zero the height has to be the same.

    The only factor that will reduce its energy is when it physically impacts other particles, resulting in a net gain of mass and a conservation of momentum (velocity decreases proportionally). Since it would be microscopic in size, it wouldn't hit much matter anyway so the deceleration would be slow... it also wouldn't cause much damage because it wouldn't consume much matter for the same reason.

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  8. Re:Get your affairs in order, people by tenco · · Score: 4, Informative

    If I am mostly carbon, (...)

    You're not.