September 10, 2008: Recreating the Big Bang

monster • Sep 9, 2008 10:42 pm
Image

aka faking an orgasm?

The image is of the Large Hadron Collider built by CERN, which the BBC reports is ready to be powered up after 30 years of planning and construction. It will be the world's most powerful physics experiment.

More on the Science of it all here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7604293.stm I just think it looks cool ;)
Big Sarge • Sep 9, 2008 10:46 pm
looks like an octopus drawing you in
HungLikeJesus • Sep 9, 2008 10:52 pm
Who ever picked the colors must have been a Denver Broncos fan.
ZenGum • Sep 9, 2008 10:54 pm
There's a passably cool/nerdy rap on youtube explaining it all.
I can't link for you cause I am at work, don't want to look toooooo idle. Some keyword searches should find it.
Nirvana • Sep 9, 2008 11:48 pm
Black holes drag in matter from their surroundings. Some critics fear the collider could create a miniature black hole that could swell and swallow the Earth:eek:
corydodt • Sep 9, 2008 11:56 pm
Fortunately, there's a way to find out if the LHC has in fact destroyed the earth.

And an RSS feed.
Elspode • Sep 9, 2008 11:59 pm
Particles liberated in this new superdupercollider will exist only for miniscule fractions of second, and they will be the much the same as zillions of particles that zip through us and the planet every second of every day, totally unnoticed. They will simply be liberated where they can be studied.

Hawking has long proven that mini black holes must exist if the rest of black hole theory is reasonably correct, so it is rather likely that we've encountered them before and didn't even realize it.

...or we might all wake up in the 11th dimension in a few days.
Medic63 • Sep 10, 2008 12:03 am
Here's a link to the rap ZenGum was talking about;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM
Clodfobble • Sep 10, 2008 12:06 am
Actual conversation in my household when I brought up this thread:

Me: Cool. Hey, want to see a picture of the Large Hadron Collider?
Him: Sure, I guess... Yeah, it looks like pretty much any other particle accelerator.
Me: I've never seen a particle accelerator before.
Him: [laughs]
Me: Why is that funny?
Him: I don't know. It just is.
footfootfoot • Sep 10, 2008 9:09 am
Well I imagine when you've got large Hardons colliding you'd get a big bang. Am I missing something here?
Flint • Sep 10, 2008 9:55 am
[color=white]...[/color]
Sheldonrs • Sep 10, 2008 9:57 am
Nirvana;482591 wrote:
Black holes drag in matter from their surroundings. Some critics fear the collider could create a miniature black hole that could swell and swallow the Earth:eek:


Except for the critics, that sounds like the description I use in my craigslist ads. :D
Flint • Sep 10, 2008 9:59 am
OMG you really are one of those freaks from Craigslist, arent you?
sweetwater • Sep 10, 2008 10:23 am
Gotta love the work of M.C. Escher. ;)
Sheldonrs • Sep 10, 2008 10:50 am
Flint;482684 wrote:
OMG you really are one of those freaks from Craigslist, arent you?


So, you know the list huh? ;)
Bullitt • Sep 10, 2008 10:53 am
Image
barefoot serpent • Sep 10, 2008 11:11 am
could have been Texas... the SSC
Pico and ME • Sep 10, 2008 3:18 pm
The project was canceled by Congress in 1993. Many factors contributed to the shutdown of the project...<snip>...the end of the need to prove the supremacy of American science with the collapse of the Soviet Union...<snip>.

Oh Gawd......
bobbin4pigsfeet • Sep 10, 2008 6:23 pm
If they painted it silver and black, it'd only find 14 particles, vs the 41 it'll find in orange and blue. Go Broncos!

Sorry, couldn't help it.
narcuul • Sep 11, 2008 4:25 pm
Well, in case the resonance cascade hits us, you would be well adviced to have your red crowbar handy. :nuke: :angel:

Well, I am a science geek.. This was a truly big and anticipated event in the history of science. I'm just drooling and sneaking and hopping around any news concerning all the multiple experiments at LHC like a squirrel around a nut he can't get. :ninja: Or whatever... :)
tombstone • Sep 11, 2008 7:32 pm
I have lots of experience with mini black holes. Nearly everything I drop disappears into one of them, along with a fair number of mundane household objects on a daily basis.
tombstone • Sep 11, 2008 7:40 pm
I am back briefly. Computer technician son sent me this yesterday-The Top 10 Ways the LHC Will Blow Your Mind. http://dvice.com/archives/2008/09/top_10_ways_the.php
spudcon • Sep 12, 2008 8:15 am
You forgot this reason;
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8651846183560329765&ei=5lzKSJqbI4n2rgKJ9fDOAg&q=rick+collider&vt=lf&hl=en
SPUCK • Sep 12, 2008 2:30 pm
Great live camera shots of the LHC here...
http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html :eek:
Pico and ME • Sep 12, 2008 2:56 pm
:eek:
onetrack • Sep 21, 2008 11:35 am
When it fails to work as planned, it'll probably make a great microwave .... I mean to say ... can you imagine the SIZE of the pizza, you could reheat in THAT!! .. :rolleyes: :D
SPUCK • Sep 23, 2008 6:25 am
Screw that!

Think of how many poodles you could dry!
Shawnee123 • Nov 23, 2009 6:26 pm
Hadron Collider has first collisions. (looks around) I'm still here!

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/23/large-hadron-collider-has-first-collisions/
Pie • Nov 23, 2009 6:41 pm
Shawnee123;611132 wrote:
Hadron Collider has first collisions. (looks around) I'm still here!

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/23/large-hadron-collider-has-first-collisions/

Wait.
classicman • Nov 23, 2009 7:12 pm
Today's collisions are relatively low-energy; the next step is to get particles colliding at higher energies than ever before. The accelerator should reach an energy of 1.2 TeV (teraelectronvolts, or a million million electronvolts) per beam by Christmas if all goes well, CERN said.


OK, could one of you smart folks put that in something I might be able to relate to, please?

kthxbai
Griff • Nov 23, 2009 7:19 pm
If it works we're all dead. :cheers:
I kid... I hope.
Clodfobble • Nov 23, 2009 7:24 pm
I think one electronvolt is the same as a normal volt (like in a 9-Volt battery,) but I could be wrong.
ZenGum • Nov 23, 2009 7:25 pm
It is the amount of energy an electron picks up accelerating across an electrostatic potential difference of one volt.

There, did that make your life better?
Griff • Nov 23, 2009 7:29 pm
[tw]of course! this is real science the basic kind that matters without that useless human stuff[/tw]
Clodfobble • Nov 23, 2009 7:48 pm
That's because after they're done with it, there won't be any useless human stuff left anywhere.
classicman • Nov 23, 2009 7:55 pm
I hate to throw a simple statement in here, but isn't this sort of like an investment?
ZenGum • Nov 23, 2009 7:58 pm
For the Geeks, this article
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427354.900-future-colliders-beyond-the-lhc.html
explains what it is doing, why, and where it can go next.

There will be a test next Friday. Study hard.

ETA

This one
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427341.200-in-susy-we-trust-what-the-lhc-is-really-looking-for.html?full=true
Is less user friendly but is better on the science.
classicman • Nov 23, 2009 8:05 pm
Is the test this friday as in the next friday or next friday as in next week. I need to schedule my time accordingly. kthxbai
ZenGum • Nov 23, 2009 8:21 pm
Both. It's a quantum thing.
Griff • Nov 23, 2009 8:39 pm
I so hope we find our way back from next Friday.
Elspode • Nov 23, 2009 11:19 pm
I'm looking forward to when they start selling Pet Black Holes.
ZenGum • Nov 24, 2009 12:30 am
Seriously, if we could create a pet black hole and contain it in some kind of toroidal magnetic field, that would solve all of our toxic waste disposal problems.
[COLOR="LemonChiffon"]
And unemployment, Camp X-Ray, and what to do with Sarah Palin all in one...[/COLOR]
SPUCK • Nov 24, 2009 5:33 am
Date: Nov. 28, 2009

ZenGum;611187 wrote:
Both. It's a quantum thing.


:p


Just think! We'll all meet ourselves coming the other way.
classicman • Nov 24, 2009 9:01 am
I think they'll have it perfected some time in ... oh ... say ... 2012.
Shawnee123 • Nov 24, 2009 9:07 am
Puh...don't know how many times I have to tell you guys the aliens are coming back for us in 2011. I'll be laughing as my bags are packed and I'm ready to go, and y'all are running around looking for your favorite socks.
xoxoxoBruce • Nov 24, 2009 11:40 am
Don't forget to wear your new Nikes.
Happy Monkey • Nov 24, 2009 2:08 pm
Some webcams.
classicman • Nov 24, 2009 2:11 pm
[COLOR="White"]Haggis - errr [/COLOR]very interesting
glatt • Nov 24, 2009 2:16 pm
Happy Monkey;611584 wrote:
Some webcams.


That's cool. But really, what about the tape craft contest? $5K is nothing to sneeze at.
glatt • Sep 23, 2011 8:45 am
You may have seen this in the news, but it's really amazing/interesting/confusing.

Researchers at CERN have successfully made nutrinos travel faster than the speed of light, which is impossible. Fermilab in Chicago had reached similar results a few years ago, but their antiquated american equipment is so crappy, the margin of error was greater than the amount by which nutrinos exceeded light speed, so they tossed out the results. The newer CERN facility is much better and its margin of error is smaller, so they are certain that their results are accurate. Except for the little matter of it being impossible.

I really wish we hadn't scrapped our half built super collider in Texas. it would be useful to have a state of the art facility to compare the CERN results to.

GENEVA &#8212; A startling find at one of the world&#8217;s foremost laboratories that a subatomic particle seemed to move faster than the speed of light has scientists around the world rethinking Albert Einstein and one of the foundations of physics.

Now they are planning to put the finding to further high-speed tests to see if a revolutionary shift in explaining the workings of the universe is needed &#8212; or if the European scientists made a mistake.

Researchers at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research outside Geneva, who announced the discovery Thursday are still somewhat surprised themselves and planned to detail their findings on Friday.


The claim is being greeted with skepticism inside and outside the European lab.

&#8220;The feeling that most people have is this can&#8217;t be right, this can&#8217;t be real,&#8221; said James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN.

CERN provided the particle accelerator to send neutrinos on a breakneck 454-mile (730-kilometer) trip underground from Geneva to Italy. France&#8217;s National Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research collaborated with Italy&#8217;s Ran Sass National Laboratory for the experiment, which has no connection to the atomic-smashing Large Hadron Collider, which is also located at CERN.

Gillies told The Associated Press that the readings have so astounded researchers that &#8220;they are inviting the broader physics community to look at what they&#8217;ve done and really scrutinize it in great detail.&#8221;

That will be necessary, because Einstein&#8217;s special relativity theory underlies &#8220;pretty much everything in modern physics,&#8221; said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. &#8220;It has worked perfectly up until now.&#8221; And part of that theory is that nothing is faster than the speed of light.

CERN reported that a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds, making the difference statistically significant.

Given the enormous implications of the find, they spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there were no flaws in the experiment.

A team at Fermilab had similar faster-than-light results in 2007. But that experiment had such a large margin of error that it undercut its scientific significance.
HungLikeJesus • Sep 23, 2011 10:08 am
glatt;757965 wrote:
...
I really wish we hadn't scrapped our half built super collider in Texas. it would be useful to have a state of the art facility to compare the CERN results to.


Then they might have created anti-gravitons and sent Texas flinging out into space.
infinite monkey • Sep 23, 2011 10:27 am
Barenaked Ladies wrote:
Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!
Spexxvet • Sep 23, 2011 10:53 am
I hear that everytime I watch The Big Bang Theory, but I only now learned that it's by The Barenaked Ladies! Who'dathought.
infinite monkey • Sep 23, 2011 11:47 am
My ex-roommate got sick of me saying, every time, "That's the Barenaked Ladies, you know." ;)
Sundae • Sep 23, 2011 11:48 am
The Big Bang Theory makes me cringe.
To me it's a typical American comedy in that they forgot to put in the comedy and instead just used stereotypical characters, some shouting and occasional gay innuendo.
(John Barrowman auditioned as Will for Will and Grace - he was rejected for being too straight. So they employed a straight actor instead. But hey, thank FSM)

Sorry.
I thought Friends was awful, so what do I know?

ETA - to balance, there are British comedy shows that I find lame too.
infinite monkey • Sep 23, 2011 11:52 am
Oh, another pooh-pooh.

We're such philistines.
Sundae • Sep 23, 2011 12:14 pm
Try watching Keeping Up Appearances with a straight face.
You'll think the wind has frozen it there.

Or My Family.
Or many more.

I might pooh-pooh. But I pooh-pooh on merit according to my own tastes, not according to awards or critics' choices or longevity. I pooh-pooh as I see fit. Etc etc ;)
Spexxvet • Sep 23, 2011 2:39 pm
Sundae;758036 wrote:
ETA - to balance, there are British comedy shows that I find lame too.

There are British comedy shows since Monty Python? [COLOR="LemonChiffon"]I kid, I'm kidding, I swear![/COLOR]
Clodfobble • Sep 23, 2011 5:55 pm
The only thing we can be sure of is that everything we know is wrong.
SPUCK • Sep 24, 2011 4:46 am
HungLikeJesus;757981 wrote:
Tand send Texas flinging out into space.


This would somehow be a bad thing?

:D
CaliforniaMama • Sep 24, 2011 8:42 am
HungLikeJesus;757981 wrote:
Then they might have created anti-gravitons and sent Texas flinging out into space.


SPUCK;758230 wrote:
This would somehow be a bad thing?

:D


After all, they are the Lone STAR State. ;)
SPUCK • Sep 26, 2011 4:50 am
Image







Does this not look like some sort of disgusting sea creature? Its mouth with teeth? Every time I see this that comes to mind. Too much SciFi perhaps.
ZenGum • Sep 26, 2011 8:18 pm
Robo-kraken is coming for you!