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Black Holes From the LHC Could Last For Minutes
KentuckyFC writes "There is absolutely, positively, definitely no chance of the LHC destroying the planet (or this way either) when it eventually switches on some time later this year. And yet a few niggling doubts are persuading some scientists to run through their figures again. One potential method of destruction is that the LHC will create tiny black holes that could swallow everything in their path, including the planet. Various scientists have said this will not happen because the black holes would decay before they could do any damage. But physicists who have re-run the calculations now say that the mini black holes produced by the LHC could last for seconds, possibly minutes. Of course, the real question is whether they decay faster than they can grow. The new calculations suggest that the decay mechanism should win over and that the catastrophic growth of a black hole from the LHC 'does not seem possible' (abstract). But shouldn't we require better assurance than that?"
Can't they move this thing to the moon and control it remotely, they should have plenty of room for a nuclear power plant of its very own...and if it gets swallowed in a small black hole at least we might have a chance.
The LHC started operation on September 10, 2008. Only nine days later, a 'hot spot' formed which resulted in one ton of liquid helium being released and major damage to the LHC. Now, they have inspected and are redoing the calculations on the presumably ridiculously impossible formation of a persistent black hole. Maybe they are now investigating the idea that the damage was caused by a persistent black hole that lasted for 'minutes' before disappearing. From the BBC:
"Cern has procedures in place to deal with quenches before they damage equipment, but in this instance a hot spot in the machine got out of control."
Officially, CERN has said that the hot spot was caused by an electrical fault. I haven't yet found the 'electrical fault' story to be convincing. If the damage was actually caused by the formation of a black hole which persisted for several seconds or even minutes, then it's unlikely that the LHC will ever be operated successfully until they can either prevent the formation of such a black hole (unlikely) or redesign to prevent the black hole from damaging the system (also unlikely). Perhaps the LHC will become the world's largest and most expensive manmade tourist attraction.
Difference: the "small side odds" were saying that the neutrons would continue a chain reaction with the elements around it, i.e. that the silicon or carbon around it would break apart when struck with a single neutron and two neutrons would be released. They knew which elements did that, and could make the assertion that it would not happen.
With the LHC, they are saying in a way, "Yes, two neutrons will be released when non-intended material is struck, but we're hoping that the chain reaction will peter out in time before enough of them get all caught up in it."
Doesn't seem quite the same.
If you replace the world "LHC" in the above statement with, say, "brick", it will still be entirely accurate, and equally meaningless.