LHC : when is it being turned on.

barnicles · 10-07-2008 10:05pm #1

Well :-S

Spear · 10-07-2008 10:33pm

Their press release says the first beams are to be fired up in August, and they're currently awaiting the cooling of the segments.

Mahatma coat · 11-07-2008 6:19am

They're doin Press releases now, great, got a link?

does it give a specific date this time??

Spear · 11-07-2008 6:38am

Mahatma coat wrote: »

They're doin Press releases now, great, got a link?

does it give a specific date this time??

http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2008/PR05.08E.html

I don't think they can be that precise, since they're left waiting on the segments to cool to 1.9K above absolute zero.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 12-07-2008 12:29am

so what's going to happen if they don't find what they're looking for?

Professor_Fink · 12-07-2008 8:03pm

Princess Innocent Knickers wrote: »

so what's going to happen if they don't find what they're looking for?

Well, then things get very interesting, and we move from verifying theoretical predictions to trying to come up with a new theory to explain these new results.

twasantis · 13-07-2008 10:40am

Professor_Fink wrote: »

Well, then things get very interesting, and we move from verifying theoretical predictions to trying to come up with a new theory to explain these new results.

do u thinks its possible that they are capable of saying"we are wrong" if they they dont get the desired results from this??

Professor_Fink · 13-07-2008 2:34pm

twasantis wrote: »

do u thinks its possible that they are capable of saying"we are wrong" if they they dont get the desired results from this??

There isn't a giant conspiracy in particle physics. If the Higgs particle isn't found, for example, then this will be a very interesting result. Not finding it is probably even more important a result than actually finding it.

It seems to be a misconception that scientists somehow benefit from maintaining they were right. Sure, if you are wrong because you made a mistake in the maths, then that doesn't reflect trerribly well on you. On the other hand if you show that we should expect to see something based on our current understanding of physics, and we don't see it, then you have helped find new physics, which is absolutely fantastic.

Lastly, even if a particular scientist or group of scientists refused to admit their pet theory has failed to make correct predictions, you can be sure that the field will move on without them. Science has experts. but no authorities.

Kevster · 18-07-2008 9:18pm

Here's a good article about it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7512586.stm

It would appear that it is quite unimaginably cold at this stage! ... ...better get the scarff out.

jessconr · 21-07-2008 4:30pm

heres a good link about the LHC that you may find interesting

http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch?video=32803

ressem · 03-08-2008 4:40pm

It looks like they're going to try accelerating protons this weekend.
They're aiming for the 8th of August, if http://www.lhcountdown.com/ is anything to go by.

Then if all works, smashing stuff together in September.

Conor108 · 03-08-2008 5:14pm

Some really great pictures of the LHC here

Conor108 · 07-08-2008 6:04pm

That LHC Countdown website keeps going down :mad:

Professor_Fink · 07-08-2008 10:21pm

September 10th

Dave! · 08-08-2008 7:58am

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn14493-worlds-most-powerful-accelerator-set-to-switch-on.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

Bout frickin time 'n all :pac:

ZorbaTehZ · 09-08-2008 12:30pm

The end is nigh

LHC testing begins tomorrow.

Conor108 · 09-08-2008 6:46pm

Isn't only a test of the yoke though?

Cern have a great rap about the LHC:D:D

barnicles · 09-08-2008 8:10pm

I heard they were showing live coverage on radio 4 so dats why i asked

hellboy99 · 10-08-2008 10:55am

Is this thing safe, I can't see how a bunch of magnets can contain such an amount of power when it fires and when they get the two protons to collide.

Professor_Fink · 10-08-2008 3:34pm

hellboy99 wrote: »

Is this thing safe, I can't see how a bunch of magnets can contain such an amount of power when it fires and when they get the two protons to collide.

The are only supposed to contain the beam. When it collides the particles pass through the detectors, where most of them are absorbed.

hellboy99 · 11-08-2008 3:42am

I was watching a program today about it and I really don't like the idea of this thing up and running, the scientists involved with it aren't even sure themselves what will happen, thats really reassuring.
I'm all for science and better understanding but I think this is a step too far.

Professor_Fink · 11-08-2008 5:29am

hellboy99 wrote: »

I was watching a program today about it and I really don't like the idea of this thing up and running, the scientists involved with it aren't even sure themselves what will happen, thats really reassuring.
I'm all for science and better understanding but I think this is a step too far.

If they knew what would happen with any experiment, then there would be now point in doing it. That's the whole reason for doing experiments: to explore the unexplored. They do know what won't happen though. Cern poses no threat to anybody. The type of collisions that the LHC will be looking at happen all the time due to cosmic rays interacting with matter. In fact, astronauts see the paths traced out by such particles inside their eyeballs when trying to sleep in space. The only thing new about the LHC is the detectors, which are very cool. The reason an accelerator is used is so that we have more control over when, where and in what parameter range particles collide.

:| · 11-08-2008 8:28pm

Professor_Fink wrote: »

In fact, astronauts see the paths traced out by such particles inside their eyeballs when trying to sleep in space..

Seriously? That's pretty cool

AtomicHorror · 11-08-2008 8:53pm

hellboy99 wrote: »

I was watching a program today about it and I really don't like the idea of this thing up and running, the scientists involved with it aren't even sure themselves what will happen...

What would be the point of doing it if they did know? Just because the outcome of an experiment cannot be predicted does not mean that one of the probable outcomes is the end of the world. Do you panic every time someone rolls a die?

hellboy99 · 12-08-2008 12:22am

AtomicHorror wrote: »

What would be the point of doing it if they did know? Just because the outcome of an experiment cannot be predicted does not mean that one of the probable outcomes is the end of the world. Do you panic every time someone rolls a die?

Well maybe the program I watched didn't help matters when it said there may be mini black holes created and they were trying to recreate the big bang.

Carsinian Thau · 12-08-2008 12:51am

Professor_Fink wrote: »

The type of collisions that the LHC will be looking at happen all the time due to cosmic rays interacting with matter.

But isn't there going to be a difference in the speed of anything created in our collision compared to the speed of what's created by the cosmic ray collision?
Could that do anything?

Professor_Fink · 12-08-2008 2:42am

wrote: »

Seriously? That's pretty cool

Yes. Apparently it makes it very difficult to go to sleep.

Professor_Fink · 12-08-2008 2:48am

Carsinian Thau wrote: »

But isn't there going to be a difference in the speed of anything created in our collision compared to the speed of what's created by the cosmic ray collision?
Could that do anything?

Many cosmic rays have much higher energies then the LHC will create, which gives us a huge margin. Quite a few do have LHC scale energies though, so we can be completely confident that this isn't going to swallow up the world.

AtomicHorror · 12-08-2008 5:50pm

hellboy99 wrote: »

Well maybe the program I watched didn't help matters when it said there may be mini black holes created and they were trying to recreate the big bang.

At the most we could say that they are trying to recreate the sort of collision that might have occurred during the big bang, not the big bang itself. It's a but like the difference between analyzing the ballistics of a piece of masonry under controlled conditions versus detonating a hydrogen bomb in a city. Except that the difference in orders of magnitude is unimaginably greater in both directions.

Based on your description alone, it sounds like a pretty crappy documentary I have to say.

JIZZLORD · 16-08-2008 9:43pm

The amount of crap being bandied about is ridiculous. I'm a physics undergrad, and while we havent covered the complex stuff relating to particle acceceleration i think that the media has it all wrong. there hasn't been as much crap since the tabloids claimed eastern europeans were eating our swans
4 things could happen
1. It'll work grand - most likely result, nobody will pass any notice
2. it'll blow up - Billions down the drain.
3. it'll blow the world up - it's not as if we'd notice
4. it'll blow Switzerland up - they're boring cheese eating clockmakers....

:| · 16-08-2008 11:55pm

JIZZLORD wrote: »

The amount of crap being bandied about is ridiculous. I'm a physics undergrad, and while we havent covered the complex stuff relating to particle acceceleration i think that the media has it all wrong. there hasn't been as much crap since the tabloids claimed eastern europeans were eating our swans
4 things could happen
1. It'll work grand - most likely result, nobody will pass any notice
2. it'll blow up - Billions down the drain.
3. it'll blow the world up - it's not as if we'd notice
4. it'll blow Switzerland up - they're boring cheese eating clockmakers....

haha yeah thats why they built it there(besides cern being there) it was either that or luxembourg :P

LHC : when is it being turned on.

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