Large Hadron Collider

stek

This is the end!

Karl Hungus

stek wrote: »

This is the end!

Could you please back up that statement? Cite evidence that shows this is the end?

ron_darrell

I'm a little curious about why everyone is getting so pumped up about this. Firstly, black holes/singularities generally need large amounts of mass to form. My understanding is that they are using a stream of protons for this test. Not exactly high mass. Secondly, this is just a test firing with the stream going in one direction only. And similar (though no to the same scale obviously) tests have been performed in the past with no adverse effects. Where are people getting the idea that black holes are gonna be created here??

robindch

stek wrote: »

This is the end!

hmmm.... I'm still here. Anybody else still alive this morning or will I be having lunch on me own?

CreepingDeath

stek wrote: »

This is the end!

Well, first there's a rip in space/time between universes.

Then the daleks start appearing.

r3nu4l

Okay folks this isn't AH so let's try to keep the discussion on track. That's a general call to everyone, not targeted at any individual.

r3nu4l

ron_darrell wrote: »

I'm a little curious about why everyone is getting so pumped up about this. Firstly, black holes/singularities generally need large amounts of mass to form. My understanding is that they are using a stream of protons for this test. Not exactly high mass. Secondly, this is just a test firing with the stream going in one direction only. And similar (though no to the same scale obviously) tests have been performed in the past with no adverse effects. Where are people getting the idea that black holes are gonna be created here??

Well this mornings switch on was very important because it was the first time anything had successfully circuited the entire collider ring. We now know that it's possible and that there is no debris or electro/magnetic flux that will cause problems for subsequent experiments. That's very important. The LHC is a much bigger ring than anything before it just because this has been done on a smaller scale before did not guarantee success today. No point firing loads of excited and highly charged protons around if they are going to get waylaid halfway to their destination!

mach1982

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Well, first there's a rip in space/time between universes.

Then the daleks start appearing.

*Grabs Squareness Gun*

r3nu4l

Last time I'll say this before infracting people. This thread is to discuss the LHC and associated science, keep it on track.

Dave!

Was watching the live stream on RTE Pretty great to see those 2 "dots" even if I'm not a physicist! They'll be testing beam 2 later today I believe.

Probably won't be colliding them for a few months, gah... so impatient

cormie

Has what they were planning on doing been done yet? Can I stop worrying?

koolkakool

cormie wrote: »

Has what they were planning on doing been done yet? Can I stop worrying?

i said this before in another thread, its not going at full power yet

wikipedia says:

the first attempt to circulate a beam through the entire LHC is scheduled for 10 September 2008, at 7:30 GMT and the first high-energy collisions are planned to take place after the LHC is officially unveiled, on 21 October 2008.

you'll have to wait until October...

the other thread is here if you're interested:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055332891&page=6

WindSock

In a nutshell to a layperson like me, what are they doing? Are they trying to get two protons to smash into each other at a great speed? What exactly is accelerating them?

r3nu4l

WindSock wrote: »

In a nutshell to a layperson like me, what are they doing? Are they trying to get two protons to smash into each other at a great speed? What exactly is accelerating them?

Here's a great website with info for teachers, students and the media.

Should answer some questions

What will it do?

What will the LHC do?
The LHC will allow scientists to probe deeper into the heart of matter and further back in time than has been possible using previous colliders.

Researchers think that the Universe originated in the Big Bang (an unimaginably violent explosion) and since then the Universe has been cooling down and becoming less energetic. Very early in the cooling process the matter and forces that make up our world ‘condensed’ out of this ball of energy.

The LHC will produce tiny patches of very high energy by colliding together atomic particles that are travelling at very high speed. The more energy produced in the collisions the further back we can look towards the very high energies that existed early in the evolution of the Universe. Collisions in the LHC will have up to 7x the energy of those produced in previous machines; recreating energies and conditions that existed billionths of a second after the start of the Big Bang.

The results from the LHC are not completely predictable as the experiments are testing ideas that are at the frontiers of our knowledge and understanding. Researchers expect to confirm predictions made on the basis of what we know from previous experiments and theories. However, part of the excitement of the LHC project is that it may uncover new facts about matter and the origins of the Universe.

One of the most interesting theories the LHC will test was put forward by the UK physicist Professor Peter Higgs and others. The different types of fundamental particle that make up matter have very different masses, while the particles that make up light (photons) have no mass at all. Peter’s theory is one explanation of why this is so and the LHC will allow us to test the theory. More of the Big Questions about the universe that the LHC may help us answer can be found here.

timmywex

ron_darrell wrote: »

I'm a little curious about why everyone is getting so pumped up about this. Firstly, black holes/singularities generally need large amounts of mass to form. My understanding is that they are using a stream of protons for this test. Not exactly high mass. Secondly, this is just a test firing with the stream going in one direction only. And similar (though no to the same scale obviously) tests have been performed in the past with no adverse effects. Where are people getting the idea that black holes are gonna be created here??

A woman botanist aparently :eek: