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LHC Repair To Cost At Least $21 Million

ThanatosMinor writes "September's quench at the Large Hadron Collider is going to cost CERN at least $21 million and delay future collisions until June of 2009 at the earliest. Enjoy your last few months outside of an event horizon."

163 comments

  1. I'm starting to believe... by Andr+T. · · Score: 5, Funny
    --

    Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

    1. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Z80a · · Score: 1

      but that would not cause something like a "invisible force field" that protects the sub particles of being formed instead of lets say the whole thing break down?

    2. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Andr+T. · · Score: 1
      The article says:

      The study is authored by Holger Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya, who argue that the very particles the LHC produces will prevent the accelerator from ever being used. Harvard post-doc and CERN collaborator Kevin Black relates their argument to the grandfather paradox - that a particle like the Higgs boson goes back in time and prevents its own birth (i.e. the future changes the events of the present).

      ...and...

      As evidence, they provide the failed Superconducting Super Collider, which Congress canned in 1993 after spending $2 billion on the project.

      --

      Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

    3. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Funny

      This reminds me of my early childhood, when I bet my sister that no matter how many of her cookies she gave me I'd be able to eat them all.

    4. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Thanshin · · Score: 2, Informative

      We don't appreciate that kind of racism around here.

    5. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm trying to be funny

      FAIL. Sorry.

    6. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

      Okay, I'll bite... from all the bad stuff you could have chosen to call that post, how on earth did you end up on 'racist'?

    7. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Metasquares · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't that theory also prevent stars from forming?

    8. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GPs answer: Yeah, don't make much sense considering a homosexual race would die out :)

      Or maybe he mean people who belive in god? But that disease seem to have spread over lots of races.

    9. Re:I'm starting to believe... by leuk_he · · Score: 1

      Such large project are automatically going to have delays. that is easy to predict.

      Everyone working in a project knows that the most sure way to make a project go late is to add people. On the LHC thousends of scientists are working. SOmeone wil decalre it will be ready in june, but in reality it will not be fully functional the next years.

      Don't worry. It will not make sense unless you work in that particulare field for the next decades.

    10. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Firkragg14 · · Score: 1

      I think what he means is that the name in the article should have been "Kevin African American"

    11. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And Higgs is known as the God particle. Maybe God is stopping the construction of this modern Tower of Babel.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    12. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      Oh dear gawd. It was a joke!

      He touched every politically incorrect topic at the same time, which created the expectation of someone biting and replying about one of them. Which makes a fake-serious reply about the only untouched topic, hilarious. Just for me, apparently.

      (Unless all your answers were cunning meta-jokes about not having understood mine. In which case I just fell dumbly and you may laugh your hearts off.)

    13. Re:I'm starting to believe... by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Shame that "God Particle" was actually "God-dammed particle."

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    14. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Thiez · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      > And Higgs is known as the God particle

      Yeah, someone gave it that name and now we can't get rid of it. I find the whole thing rather annoying, it is a just a particle and no more 'divine' than a potato. The media seem to love the name, though. People want to believe.

      The guy who modded you interesing must be one of those idiots.

    15. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      The guy who modded you interesing must be one of those idiots.

      Well I was going for funny, but maybe he was trying to help my karma or something.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    16. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Thiez · · Score: 1

      If that is the case I hope he reads this and accepts my apologies. Or mods this post offtopic :p

    17. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blah. The idea of time-paradoxes simply exposes a lack of understanding on how time works.

      From a pure 'outside' perspective, time does not change- there is no past, present, or future. Those concepts only exist while observing time from within that structure.

      Time is not some nebulous idea, it is a physical thing, it's just that most people are unable to conceive of it as a physical structure.

      My point being, that you can't change the past. You can change what appears to be in the past.
      For example, if you were to 'go back in time' (which is not really 'backwards' per se, but more 'sideways') and kill your parents, you would still exist- and so would your parents. At least in your time-stream. Even if you ended up in an alternate timestream where your parents were dead, you'd still remember them, because you had experienced a time-stream with them alive.
      You can't really 'change' the past (or the future) but you can change which time "line" you are currently experiencing.

      The point being simply that there is no such thing as a time paradox; the paradox is simply an indicator that you are unable to understand how it works, or that you are applying your logic wrong.

    18. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Bob+The+Cowboy · · Score: 1

      Cowboy Neal, is that you?

    19. Re:I'm starting to believe... by aliquis · · Score: 1

      But would I had got around troll moderation if I had left out "or well, not really group 2 or 4, but let's pretend"?

      Because, plenty of religious retards DO believe homosexuality is wrong, and defend that retarded thought by blaming god.

      And the large hardon collider = gay reference is well known off.

      So what was wrong with my post? I even mentioned _I_ didn't disliked the fags and that I was just trying to be funny (which someone claimed was a failure, but then maybe part of the failure was to say that I tried to be funny... But since some of Slashdots moderators don't understand better it had to be mentioned.)

      Oh well..

    20. Re:I'm starting to believe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the guy that modded you was trying to be funny just the way you were. I thought that it was funny that you were modded troll because you explained you shouldn't.

  2. Too late. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We are already in another reality! They ran it and in this reality it won't work and therefore we're stuck here! I have proof! I'm not crazy! In another reality, I have an account and my user # is double digit! In my reality, get this, the US is a capitalist country and the President elect is white!

  3. Re:First ouch! by somersault · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Enjoy your last few months outside of an event horizon.

    I thought all /. readers by now (especially those keeping up with news on the LHC like this guy) would know that the black holes created by this thing will evaporate before being able to do any damage (which would take a long time anyway given how small they would be). What's with the scaremongering, ThanatosMinor? Are you trying to use the "last few months on earth" gag to pick up insecure chicks?

    --
    which is totally what she said
  4. That's a bargain for a doomsday device! by erroneus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Professor Farnsworth's doomsday devices are a lot more expensive and they haven't even been invented yet!

    1. Re:That's a bargain for a doomsday device! by neoform · · Score: 1

      How can you tell it's more expensive? Earthican Dollars also don't exist yet..

      --
      MABASPLOOM!
    2. Re:That's a bargain for a doomsday device! by numbware · · Score: 1

      I still got my money on the Finglonger.

      WAY more useful than a doomsday device.

      --
      I'm going to go create my own technology news site, with blackjack and hookers. You know what? Forget the news site.
  5. When its back up... by oodaloop · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...they should fire that thing at a small gold pin. What could possibly go wrong?

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    1. Re:When its back up... by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...they should fire that thing at a small gold pin. What could possibly go wrong?

      We slay an indeterminate number of dancing angels?

      I mean, if they're line dancing, then fair enough.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  6. Perspective by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you worked at the LHC you too would be happy to hear "The repair will cost at least $21 million."... ... If the last comment before that was "Dear God it's all falling appart!".

  7. Re:First ouch! by Andr+T. · · Score: 5, Funny

    That would be lame. Imagine this dialogue:

    Nerd guy: 'And then, we will be stuck in the event horizon and...'

    Beautiful girl: 'Damn... So I have to use all the time that I have to make sex to all those non-nerd guys over there. Bye!'

    --

    Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

  8. zzzzzz by apodyopsis · · Score: 3, Funny

    bbc reported the same thing...

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7734251.stm

    I like their quote "The cost of the work will fall within the Cern's existing budget" though it does make me idly speculate on the size of their budget and how large a secret fortress I could build with it....

    1. Re:zzzzzz by meringuoid · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I like their quote "The cost of the work will fall within the Cern's existing budget" though it does make me idly speculate on the size of their budget and how large a secret fortress I could build with it...

      14 million quid is the price of a decent footballer. It's really not that much money at all. CERN's total budget runs to something like £700 million per year.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    2. Re:zzzzzz by marcosdumay · · Score: 4, Funny

      "how large a secret fortress I could build with it...."

      You'll can probably build some undergroung fortress with some 20km or 30km of radius, I guess. With a doomsday machine still on budget!

    3. Re:zzzzzz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll can probably build some undergroung fortress with some 20km or 30km of radius,

      I'll can haz undergroung fortress?

  9. Erm by sleeponthemic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Large Hadron Forever?

    --
    I record my sleeptalking
    1. Re:Erm by Gibberx · · Score: 2, Funny

      You should see a doctor about that. It shouldn't persist for more than 4 hours.

    2. Re:Erm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If your erection lasts longer than 4 hours, seek professional help immediately."

      Yer damned right I'll seek professional help - right down there by the lamp post at the corner of 42nd and 8th.

  10. Gotta love the flamebait tag... by Pluvius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Complete sense-of-humor failure over there. It's also in a couple of the above replies.

    Rob

  11. Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by maillemaker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Great work if you can get it. Need 20 million in funding? Drop a wrench into something that looks complicated. :)

    --
    A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
  12. Damn those scientists! by Lord+Bitman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They should have planned for this kind of thing and taken it into account, like by having a few months of performing shake-down tests and finding any problems then!

    Oh, wait...

    --
    -- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
  13. I bet they are just stalling because they don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    want to admit that Carmen Sandiego managed to steal the whole thing.

    1. Re:I bet they are just stalling because they don't by NoisySplatter · · Score: 1

      I think it's slightly more likely that Waldo accidentally the whole thing and they can't find him to ask he did with it.

      --
      In Soviet Russia meme tires of you!
    2. Re:I bet they are just stalling because they don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She told me she would go to a place where the kangaroos live.

    3. Re:I bet they are just stalling because they don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You accidentally the verb.

  14. CERN, thanks for the birthday gift! by Tokimasa · · Score: 1

    They are gonna get me a black hole for my birthday!

    --
    --Thomas J. Owens
    1. Re:CERN, thanks for the birthday gift! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, his name is Bubba.

      -CERN

    2. Re:CERN, thanks for the birthday gift! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It'll be the greatest fireworks display you were ever embedded in.

      (Yes, I know nothing will happen, don't worry your stupditity-detectors)

  15. Re:First ouch! by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Funny

    That would be lame. Imagine this dialogue:

    Nerd guy: 'And then, we will be stuck in the event horizon and...'

    Beautiful girl: 'Damn... So I have to use all the time that I have to make sex to all those non-nerd guys over there. Bye!'

    No you've got it all wrong. Its 'And then, we will be stuck in the event horizon, but with my new flux capacitor I can bring two person through into a parallel universe across the twenty-fifth dimension. One of them has to be me, because only I can control it and I was thinking perhaps you... but no it would mean staying in a confined space without light for hours

    several hours later: Gosh this parallel world is the one just like ours but where the laws of physics are different enough that the LHC didn't make a black hole'

  16. Dimensions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The parallel universes in which the LHC works without failure are already wiped out by the LHC, that's why any concious being, like you, can only be in a universe in which the LHC fails!

    1. Re:Dimensions by ezzzD55J · · Score: 4, Funny

      The parallel universes in which the LHC works without failure are already wiped out by the LHC

      This is the.. unanthropological principle :) ?

    2. Re:Dimensions by symcell · · Score: 1

      unthropic principle.

    3. Re:Dimensions by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Any universe with intelligent beings will sooner or later have run an experiment like the LHC and wipe themselves out. Therefore, no intelligent life can exist. QED.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    4. Re:Dimensions by TrekkieGod · · Score: 1

      The parallel universes in which the LHC works without failure are already wiped out by the LHC

      This is the...unanthropological principle :) ?

      Actually, you might be surprised to know there's already a name for that theory: Quantum Suicide

      --

      Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.

  17. Re:First ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought all /. readers by now could recognize humor.

  18. so it's a race... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which will completely implode first: the planet's economy or the planet itself?

    If the economy goes first then there'll be no money for LHC. If the planet goes first it will be a significant disruption to normal economic activity.

  19. Re:First ouch! by somersault · · Score: 1

    You'd be mistaken. If he included a wink or something to suggest that he wasn't a moron who actually was worried about the possibility of a black hole, then it might have been very slightly funnier than something that isn't at all funny.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  20. Re:Hey! by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wow that's old. But anyway...I'll reply here for the interested. Feel free to mod me offtopic (because I am):

    What killed BBSes was none of those things.

    1) That's why post/call ratios were invented. Duh.
    2) The technical clique were often right there with the gabbers. We talked to the gabbers to pick up chicks. Most of us were successful, too. I went on a few dates. None of them ever turned into anything serious, but it was still fun.
    3) Maybe. I lived in an area with lots of BBSes, and I don't think that having a number to choose from was a bad thing.
    4) Not sure the 'loss of anonymity' ever occurred 100%. The last BBS I ever signed onto I signed on with a handle. My BBS had handles right up until I took it down in 1992.
    6) Yes, the press were a bunch of arrogant pricks who didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. Don't think they had *that* much impact, though.
    7) I tend to agree, but there were also plenty of technically competent sysops, too, and so I don't think that ignorant sysops killed BBSes, either.

    Finally, what killed BBSes was cheap, widely available Internet access. After people saw 'Teh Intarweb!!!' BBSes just seemed to pale in comparison.

  21. Lies Kill by radtea · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The media portrayal of the LHC experiments has been branded as irresponsible and sensationalist by psychologists - especially since the death of a 16-year-old Indian girl, who killed herself after being distressed by the coverage on an Indian news channel."

    The threat to human life from people like KDawson posting sensationalist anti-LHC garbage to places like /. is real and documented. At least one person has actually, demonstrably died due to the precise behaviour that KDawson is exhibiting on this story.

    The supposed threat from the LHC, on the other hand, is a fantasy made up and promoted by irresponsible, money-hungry media shills like KDawson to sell ads.

    The LHC is safe. People like KDawson kill.

    --
    Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
    1. Re:Lies Kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Stupidity kills. That's ridiculous, claiming that he could kill people. You know what? I don't much like kdawson either, but anyone that kills themselves because they were told the world was going to end deserves a some kind of nationally recognised award for being a fucking moron.

      Her own abject stupidity, her appalling lack of critical thinking skills killed her. She killed herself because of a doomsday claim that she could've found to be false in an hour, if she actually bothered to evaluate it. She would've found that there have been thousands of doomsday claims over thousands of years, and that every single one was without merit. Ascertaining what is true is a necessary part of life. She failed because she was a fool, and then made a foolish choice based on a foolish assumption. She was a fool in the first place because her community didn't instill the value of thinking properly. They failed her, her school failed her, her family failed her, and she failed herself. And now she's dead.

    2. Re:Lies Kill by sssssss27 · · Score: 1

      I want to know the logic that girl fallowed. I might die so instead I'll kill myself? My math might be a little rusty but I'm pretty sure that even the slimmest chance of living is better than no chance. I imagine I'm going to die someday, guess I should just get it out of the way now....

    3. Re:Lies Kill by totally+bogus+dude · · Score: 2, Funny

      What's with everyone blaming kdawson? I thought it was a scientifically proven fact that KDawson never, ever reads the stories he publishes here, much less writes them.

    4. Re:Lies Kill by black_lbi · · Score: 1

      Could it be possible he was only joking? Or is it a woosh for me, and you're mistakenly moded insightful instead of funny?

    5. Re:Lies Kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People commit suicide for stupider stuff than that almost every day. Mental Illness is a bitch. What's your point?

    6. Re:Lies Kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new here. Kdawson bashing is just another form of karma whoring. Try it sometime and marvel how your karma points rise.

    7. Re:Lies Kill by Reservoir+Penguin · · Score: 1

      According to Wikipedia, at least one technician was killed during the construction of LHC. So, yeah - LHC kills.

      --
      US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
    8. Re:Lies Kill by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I want to know the logic that girl fallowed. I might die so instead I'll kill myself? My math might be a little rusty but I'm pretty sure that even the slimmest chance of living is better than no chance. I imagine I'm going to die someday, guess I should just get it out of the way now....

      I think when someone is already irrational, then logic flies out the window. Honestly, I really suspect someone who's already deranged enough to commit suicide (and not seek help about it - there are tons of anonymous support groups/phone lines/etc) was just looking for a reason to do it. Blaming LHC for creating black holes is certainly quite trendy. Better to go out with a bang than a whimper, and get 15 minutes of posthumous fame.

    9. Re:Lies Kill by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 1

      She would've found that there have been thousands of doomsday claims over thousands of years, and that every single one was without merit.

      Of course every doomsday prediction has proved false. If one had proved true, we wouldn't be here to debate it!

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
    10. Re:Lies Kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I had to guess, I'd say it was a case of 'if I'm going to die, I'll die on my terms', either as a control thing, or on the belief that'd she'd suffer less that way?

    11. Re:Lies Kill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, was KDawson actually serious? I thought he was just kidding. There's no way he could possibly be serious, right?

    12. Re:Lies Kill by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

      And how many people kill themselves each year for other crap because they're depressed?

    13. Re:Lies Kill by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      that's good, because I heard a whopper of one. Supposedly this east coast oil tycoon who poses as a Texan, totally fries his brain on cocaine and alcohol, then becomes president of the U.S., creates a police state and runs the country into the ground and starts this huge expensive war to help his oil interests and his buddy's defense contractor business. Right before he leaves office, he convinces Congress to "save the economy" with a law costing hundreds of billions of dollars, but the money just gets given to large banks who piss it away on acquisitions and executive compensation and bonus packages while the country and economy continues to tank.

      I know, pretty far fetched. but it sounded so plausible the way it was told.

  22. CERN's budget by andre.david · · Score: 2, Interesting

    CERN's budget is not secret at all. It is something like 800 million EUR per year.

    What intrigues me is that the numerical value has remained the same, despite inflation eating up its worth through the years...

  23. Gman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..it has to be Gman..

  24. Pentagon can pay! by Dersaidin · · Score: 1
    "The Pentagon now spends about $21 million every hour to develop and procure new defense systems."
    http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/nov08/6931/2

    Surely one hour's R&D expenses could be spared for the LHC.

    1. Re:Pentagon can pay! by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      > Surely one hour's R&D expenses could be spared for the LHC.

      Unless they're researching a black hole repeller shield, of course.

  25. Re:First ouch! by richien6 · · Score: 1

    NOOO!!!
    There's a theory (or something) that says that positron--stuff left over from the stripped-protons colliding--are actually happening quite frequently in nature when they are brought to Earth by the Sun's -thingys-, and so this artificial recreation will not form a Black Hole.
    Thank you Popular Science :D

    --
    Slashdot user since
  26. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by Dorkmaster+Flek · · Score: 1

    Why not? They can afford to spend that much every minute on Iraq.

    --
    I like to think of online DRM as something akin to a college -- you pay for lessons until you learn something.
  27. A dream come true! by C_Kode · · Score: 2, Funny

    Enjoy your last few months outside of an event horizon.

    It's been my life long dream to experience an Event Horizon. The only shame is I won't be able to contemplate such a great experience afterwards. ;)

    1. Re:A dream come true! by Krupuk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sure you can. You'll have an almost infinite amount of time to contemplate it ;)

  28. Re:First ouch! by flewp · · Score: 1

    I love how your sig fits the scenario you describe so perfectly.

    --
    WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
  29. I bet they're kicking themselves by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Funny

    for not buying the extended warranty!

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  30. Re:First ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can see that you have given this matter altogether too much consideration.

  31. Pocket change by BlueParrot · · Score: 4, Informative

    The total cost of the is estimated to be somewhere between 3 billion to 7 billion. A couple of tens of millions will increase the overall cost by less than 1%.

    1. Re:Pocket change by Dare+nMc · · Score: 1

      will increase the overall cost by less than 1%.

      well I usually have to count depreciation into my budgets, at my capital rate this would be $210 million delay, if I sat on a $7 billion asset for 6 months. I realize they had planned to shutdown for much of that time anyway, but they also planned to have some data available to look at during that time, and presumably refine the next test from that.

      I am sure the $21 million repair cost is insignificant compared to the other real costs of this delay. Then again these research projects are a different ballgame, where the real goal may be as simple as spend lots of money.

    2. Re:Pocket change by IchNiSan · · Score: 1

      Good to know it is so cheap. I have always wanted one of.

  32. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, but compare results! Bush succeeded in turning Iraq into a black hole, sucking in blood, money, and the least important thing, his reputation, the LHC has yet to create any!

  33. Re:First ouch! by cgenman · · Score: 3, Funny

    Exactly. Besides, the live webcam looks fine.

  34. actually by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At least one person has killer herself because she went into an irrational panic, and did something stupid and rash. That's often a sign of psychological problems.

    Yeah, the media coverage has been sensationalist and dumb. But it didn't kill anyone.

    1. Re:actually by Snaller · · Score: 1

      But it contributed.

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  35. Re:First ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like a case of "A joke isn't funny if it needs to be explained."

  36. Black Hole Calculation by KiwiCanuck · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm guessing that /.'ers know that the LHC is not going to form a black hole. In case you don't here's the math. Mass of a intermediate black hole = 1000x the mass of the sun Mass of the sun = 332,946x the mass of the Earth Mass of the Earth = 6x10^24 kg Therefor mass of black hole = 2x10^(33) kg Mass of a proton = 1.67x10^(-27) kg The crushing force of a black hole is caused by its density, a large mass in a small volume (1000x the mass of the sun in a 1,000km diameter ball -> ~size of the Earth). So flinging around 40 or so protons in a 27km diameter tunnel is not going to destroy our solar system (or reshape the galaxy).

    1. Re:Black Hole Calculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's speculation that microscopic black holes can be created. As you say, it's only a question of density. Pack enough mass/energy into a tiny space and you get a black hole. It's also speculated that due to Hawking radiation, they'd evaporate before consuming a single electron, but your math is no proof of anything.

    2. Re:Black Hole Calculation by MozeeToby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whether something is a black hole or not is not determined by mass but by density. In theory, if you can sqeeze the mass into a small enough volume it will collapse into a black hole. No one ever said that any produced black hole will destroy the solar system, let alone impact the galaxy.

      The worst case senario is the blackhole spirals through the Earths crust for the next few hundred thousand years, hardly ever absorbing any matter because of its extremely small size. Even if it were to eventually absorb all the matter of the Earth you would have a black hold smaller than the head of a pin, going around the exact same orbit with the exact same amount of gravitational attraction that the earth had.

      Of course, this ignores the fact that such a small black hole will almost instantaniously evaporate in a puff of Hawking radiation. It also ignores the fact that most likely the LHC is an order of magnitude too weak to produce the micro black holes at all. Finally, it ignores the fact that neutron stars exist. If the LHC is powerful enough to produce a stable black hole, then cosmic rays hitting neutron stars are too. After a few million years we wouldn't have neutron stars as they would all be converted to black holes.

      The point is, there are lots of reasons that the LHC won't destroy the Earth. Not having enough mass to produce a black hole isn't one of them.

    3. Re:Black Hole Calculation by zmooc · · Score: 1

      Disclaimer: IANOF!

      Though you're most certainly correct about the LHC not forming a black hole, what you fail to mention, is that at high energies the character of all forces (gravity, electromagnetic etc.) probably becomes equal, like it was at the time of the Big Bang: light is gravity is magnetism etc. Therefore, your assumption that the weight of a proton in rest is a good argument against the LHC becoming a black hole, is wrong. At least, in theory it is.

      --
      0x or or snor perron?!
    4. Re:Black Hole Calculation by cobaltnova · · Score: 1

      The crushing force of a black hole is caused by its density

      The gravitational force (the important force you feel from a black hole) is proportional to its mass. Newton's universal law of gravitation.

      The fact that its a black hole doesn't magically give it a strong attractive force (nor does high mass density). Rather, it creates an event horizon from which (kind of) nothing can return, the Shwarzschild Radius. The fact of the matter is, these tiny black holes are too light to attract any particles on their own, and too small to accidentally gobble up things they run into at any appreciable rate. Also, we get higher energy events routinely, so empyrically, we know we are safe (which is a far better argument than all of this theory).

      So flinging around 40 or so protons in a 27km diameter tunnel is not going to destroy our solar system (or reshape the galaxy).

      This is irrelevant. We care if it reshapes Earth, not the solar system or galaxy.

    5. Re:Black Hole Calculation by stwf · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd also like to point out that the history of science is a history of being the smartest people on the planet being wrong.

      So don't throw numbers that you couldn't possibly back up with fact and think that they make me feel any better.

      Personally I figured God would stop the LHC from running if it were that dangerous, and so far that still gives me more comfort than your napkin back calculations.

    6. Re:Black Hole Calculation by HermDog · · Score: 1

      It also ignores the fact that most likely the LHC is an order of magnitude too weak to produce the micro black holes at all.

      What? Did the contract go to the lowest bidder? First time we fire the thing up it suffers a $21 million failure, and now you tell us it won't even make ineffective black holes? I want my money back.

      --
      JADBP
    7. Re:Black Hole Calculation by joe_frisch · · Score: 1

      Your calculation is about right - if space-time has 4 dimensions. There are some physics theories that suggest there are more very small dimensions. Think of a thin soda-straw: over large distances it has 1 dimension, but if you look closely there are 2. If these extra dimensions exist gravity will behave differently on small scales. It would be possible to make small black holes with much less mass than you would expect from the normal 4-dimensional calculation. This would let the LHC with only 7TeV make tiny black holes. (normally you would need about 1000 TRILLION TEV). These black holes would NOT behave like normal black holes and consume normal matter. They would have very little interaction (they have little mass, so little gravity), and would either fly off into space, or decay. Extra-dimensions are one of several competing theories, one of the jobs of the LHC is to figure out if they exist.

    8. Re:Black Hole Calculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is, there are lots of reasons that the LHC won't destroy the Earth. Not having enough mass to produce a black hole isn't one of them.

      Don't you mean "...is one of them"?

    9. Re:Black Hole Calculation by ypctx · · Score: 1

      Now how many flying LHC's we've been able to observe in our universe, that we can say for sure that our LHC will be safe. Cosmic rays hitting neutron stars may or may not be the same thing - we don't know for sure.
      That said, I can't wait for LHC to operate and bring results.

    10. Re:Black Hole Calculation by WhiteDragon · · Score: 1

      Disclaimer: IANOF!

      I am not on fire?

      --
      Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
    11. Re:Black Hole Calculation by zmooc · · Score: 1

      I must have misspelled IANFO...

      I are not a flying ostrich. I are baboon!

      --
      0x or or snor perron?!
  37. Re:First ouch! by __aamnbm3774 · · Score: 1

    mod up for saying 'make sex' and causing me to think she was Vietnamese or something.

  38. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by aproposofwhat · · Score: 1

    Q: Whats the difference between GW Bush and Hoover?

    One sucks, the other sells vacuum cleaners?

    --
    One swallow does not a fellatrix make
  39. Ignoramus invents singularities by Peter+Bortas · · Score: 1

    The time when the black hole jokes was funny has passed. Please move on.

    1. Re:Ignoramus invents singularities by Andr+T. · · Score: 4, Funny

      We can't. We're stuck in the joke horizon.

      --

      Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

  40. Re:First ouch! by ari_j · · Score: 1

    You fool, a flux capacitor won't get you out of the black hole. You need to find a crack in the event horizon and then you can simply walk out.

  41. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by R2.0 · · Score: 1

    Tell me - what are you three going to do after January 20, 2009? What will fill the gigantic void in your life and ability to express thoughts and feelings? Because, sooner or later, people are going to get tired of the constant, droning, repetitive rant that makes up your daily existence...Oh, wait - that's already happened.

    --
    "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
  42. Just as I predicted... by Cougar1 · · Score: 1

    Clearly, they won't really get all of the kinks worked out of this thing until December 2012 (see http://www.december212012.com/).

  43. Re:First ouch! by somersault · · Score: 1

    I got that it could be a joke while reading, but I've also seen a lot of people who are atually worried about black holes (I was one until I read some informative comments and links here on /. ).

    --
    which is totally what she said
  44. they really did it!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess they really have managed to create an actual black hole!!

  45. When Memes Collide by monkeyboythom · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is not the Sarah Conner you are looking for.

    This message brought to you by Speedy Boson Delivery Service -- "If it's not there by yesterday, it will never be there."

    1. Re:When Memes Collide by jddj · · Score: 1

      "If it's not there by yesterday, it willen never on-have be there."

      Fixed that for you...

  46. Re:First ouch! by Bozzio · · Score: 1

    That seems like flawless reasoning.
    What's the problem here?

    Reverse polarity, lower shields, increase tachyon bursts, invert phase shifting, and, of course, divert power.

    All flawless reasoning.

    --
    I just pooped your party.
  47. Re:First ouch! by ari_j · · Score: 1

    You forgot the warp particles, not to mention two other important ingredients: total disregard for any kind of science and rape of my childhood.

  48. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by shicaca · · Score: 0

    Yeah the only problem is that it's cost him billions of dollars to do the same thing. With the LHC we're at least getting more bang for the buck! ... or more suck for the buck Although Bush sucks pretty hardcore himself.

  49. Re:First ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmm. I thought you were talking about LHC not LSD.

  50. Re:First ouch! by FunkyELF · · Score: 1

    which would take a long time anyway given how small they would be

    I heart 5 years. I heard that it starts out so small but grows at some crazy rate such that it would be undetectable for 5 years passing through and orbiting our planet. Then we would have 2 minutes of what feels like an earthquake, then we get sucked into another dimension (after being crushed to death).

  51. Re:First ouch! by Palshife · · Score: 1

    Seconded.

    --
    Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
  52. I thought Slashdot was smarter than this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Holy god people, kdawson's last sentence is just about drowning in sarcasm, but half the people posting are taking it as serious.

    What, are we supposed to end things with /sarcasm tags to keep the ridiculously literal from being offended?

  53. Re:First ouch! by jobsagoodun · · Score: 1

    Reverse polarity, lower shields, increase tachyon bursts, invert phase shifting, and, of course, divert power.

    No, no no, CROSS THE BEAMS !

  54. Re:First ouch! by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought all slashdot moderators, by now, would be savvy to the practice of replying to a fp in order to get comments listed earlier in a discussion.

    And I also thought that most slashdot posters would be savvy to the use of tongue-in-cheekery... which assumes that the reader actually knows what's going on (which, if they are a regular slashdot reader, they should).

    Seriously. Whoosh.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  55. Re:First ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but with my new flux capacitor I can bring two person through into a parallel universe across the twenty-fifth dimension

    I can see that you have given this matter altogether too much consideration.

    Still I'm not sure on what he means with a "flux capacitor".
    Does he mean a "fictional electronic device", "an illegal drug" or "male genitalia".

  56. black hole? got nukes? no problem! by kj_kabaje · · Score: 1

    At least if you have a precisely shaped-charge nuke, you just blow it up in front of the black hole. Sheez--everybody knows that.

  57. Re:First ouch! by somersault · · Score: 0

    It was the only other comment when I posted if you check the times. Whatever, there are no rules saying that I should have to start my own thread, the reply button on comments is a lot easier to get to than the constantly changing story reply one.

    Tongue in cheek is fine if it's not presented as actual ignorance. In this case it could have gone either way, but I've seen plenty of /.ers in LHC threads who are still worried because they haven't actually looked into it. Yes, I thought the guy might have been joking, but it seemed even more likely to me that he wasn't. He didn't evne use an exclamation mark let alone any kind of emote to show his tone.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  58. Re:First ouch! by somersault · · Score: 1

    -_-

    any black holes created would be tiny - so tiny that they have a very small chance of even swallowing any particles during their existence, and evaporate "within a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second" (linky). That seems a lot shorter than the 5 years you say it would take to cause a problem.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  59. Mayan Calendar says otherwise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am anticipating further delays until December 2011.

  60. There definitely will be black holes by sulimma · · Score: 1

    Here is a picture of a simulated collision in the ATLAS detector that creates a black hole:
    http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/936914

    This happen all the time near earth and is not dangerous at all. This is nothing unknown, or mystic or strange. AFAIK the LHC is not even the first accelerator to create black holes.

  61. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by meringuoid · · Score: 1
    Tell me - what are you three going to do after January 20, 2009?

    Is that the date that's been set to withdraw from Iraq? If so, then of course we'll stop complaining about the ongoing cost of the war in Iraq. Otherwise, we'll continue complaining until the withdrawal takes place.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  62. Re:First ouch! by Sabz5150 · · Score: 1

    I can see that you have given this matter altogether too much consideration.

    He's given it the right amount of consideration... he has a plan which just might succeed.

    --
    "Who modded this informative? Whoever it is must've been smokin' some of that martian pot!"
  63. Re:First ouch! by omnipresentbob · · Score: 1

    Nah, he didn't think about it that much. He got the idea from me. And let me tell you, it works quite wonderfully.

  64. Re:First ouch! by sharperguy · · Score: 1

    the black holes created by this thing

    That's assuming it creates any, which supposedly isn't the most likely outcome

    --
    "sudo rm -rf your-face"
  65. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by witherstaff · · Score: 1

    The repercussions of the Bush admin will last for years, if not decades. There's plenty of fodder to pick on for a long time! Obama will inherit big bailouts, the FED giving out trillions in loans secretly, warrant less wiretaps (Obama did vote for that one), two wars, and whole lot more.

  66. Workers reported: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (With high pitched voices.) We noticed the helium leak when Bob's voice changed. Everyone rushed in to join in on the fun.

  67. Another obscure reference theatre by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

    Have you ever seen a mini black hole? Everything gets sucked in. It's like a nuclear compression charge going off. Looks good! From a distance.

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  68. I think most would see that by KalvinB · · Score: 1

    as a joke. Maybe the reason some people don't see it as funny is because the scientists involved aren't doing a very good job explaining how what they're doing isn't dangerous.

    The fact that you thought the submitter was being serious would indicate that you aren't sure that there couldn't be serious consequences to making little black holes.

  69. Re:First ouch! by DogAlmity · · Score: 1

    Sound more like a case of "I didn't get it so it wasn't funny."

  70. Re:First ouch! by IchNiSan · · Score: 1

    Does tongue-in-cheekery have anything at all to do with ass-hattery?

  71. Smart, but there's a flaw... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    You should make a fake machine with no windows, and have someone pick up the machine and leave it in a deserted area to make her think you're the last man on earth once it's "safe to come out". I don't think just a few hours in the dark in a confined space would do it, even then you'd be taking a lot of the fun out of it. If she finds out that civilization hasn't been destroyed, you can make up something leading to your explanation and she'll still think you saved her life, making her less repulsed by you. Win-win!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  72. Re:First ouch! by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 1

    I'm starting to wonder if the thing's capable of working at all. It might be too big and complex to function for long, if ever. Either have machines design the next one or wait for evolution because the car driving apes have hit a wall.

  73. For real? by Dretep · · Score: 1

    I remember reading about a Large Hadron Collider at CERN(?) in that book Angels & Daemons by Dan Brown. Never did any research about it but it's damn scary that it's possible. That said, I can't wait until the media finally releases where the REAL Jurassic Park is located.

    1. Re:For real? by Von+Helmet · · Score: 1

      Eh? All that happened in Angels and Demons was that they had found a way to create antimatter, which is entirely different.

    2. Re:For real? by Dretep · · Score: 1

      It's been a year or so but I thought that was done using the LHC at Cern, no?

    3. Re:For real? by Von+Helmet · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected - in the book they did indeed do it with the LHC. However, in real life, the LHC can't produce antimatter as described in the book, which was more the point that I was trying to make. There's nothing scary about the real LHC, and certainly nothing that you could draw from a Dan Brown book.

  74. $23 Million by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Frankly, I'm quite surprised that the repairs aren't costing $23 Million...

  75. Re:First ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some people really think all blondes are dumb. But explaining that it's not true everytime someone tells a blonde joke would just be douchey.

  76. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by Agripa · · Score: 1

    Great work if you can get it. Need 20 million in funding? Drop a wrench into something that looks complicated. :)

    First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

  77. Re:Hey! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dude who cares about BBS anyway.
    what was seriously cool is getting a two way chat
    terminal going.
    of course u needed a household with two phone lines
    "bot, why isnt the fax working?"(:quote dad), so you could explain to your friend on the other
    end how to setup the terminal. the first line being the phone
    line. duh. z-modem ruleZ

    thanks for sierra BBS that helped me get thru leisure suite larry I.

  78. Re:Need funding? "Hey, who's got a spare wrench?" by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

    Great work if you can get it. Need 20 million in funding? Drop a wrench into something that looks complicated. :)

    ... for some values of "something". For others, it might not be such a good idea.

  79. pocket change by KZigurs · · Score: 1

    Big numbers! Soo - this works out as what, around 0.3% of the construction budget so far? Or about 3% of their yearly operating budget?
    All in all it sounds to be about equal to paying $2.50 for a spare power cable for the $800 pc you just bought.

    I am surprised it didn't cost more - I suspect that replacing coolant takes quite a significant part in that sum.

  80. Re:First ouch! by glittalogik · · Score: 1

    A syringe full of a DMT solution would go a long way towards convincing her she'd travelled between dimensions...

  81. KDawson just slit his wrists in shame by patio11 · · Score: 1

    Radtea, you murderer!

  82. It blows, it sucks by deanston · · Score: 1

    I surmise, that the LHC, so far, is already acting like a black hole. I look at my blank BIONC screensaver daily with disappointment. Oh well, switching back to boring grid computing problems like world health and hunger.

  83. I wonder... by deanston · · Score: 1

    what the budget for the Death Star might be like. Imagine Luke and the Rebel Alliance saved by technical difficulty. :)

  84. Re: Racism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We don't appreciate that kind of racism around here.

    Which kinds of racism do you approve of?