Will Hadron Collider herald doomsday?

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 23 November 2009, 14:46 IST   |    5 Comments
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Will Hadron Collider herald doomsday?
Geneva: Scientists are preparing the world's largest atom smasher to explore the depths of matter after restarting the $10 billion machine following more than a year of repairs. Scientists in Geneva celebrated after restarting the Large Hadron Collider, damaged since September 2008. Experiments are likely to resume in January, but still many are skeptical about the outcome of the experiment. Some people, including a few scientists, believe that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle collisions, include doomsday scenarios involving the production of stable micro black holes and the creation of hypothetical particles called strangelets. The opponents assert that the experiments have the potential to create low velocity micro black holes that could grow in mass or release dangerous radiations on the earth. When the machine is fully operational, its magnets will control beams of protons and send them in opposite directions through two parallel tubes the size of fire hoses, reports the Associated Press. In rooms as large as cathedrals, 300 feet under the Swiss-French border, the magnets will force them into huge detectors to record the reactions. The nuclear physicists working on it were surprised at how quickly they got beams of protons whizzing through the 17-mile circular tunnel underground late Friday. "That was all wrapped up by midnight. They are going through the paces really very fast," said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Praise from scientists around the world was quick. "I congratulate the scientists and engineers that have worked to get the LHC back up and running," said Dennis Kovar of the U.S. Department of Energy, which participates in the project. The Superconducting Super Collider that was being built in Ellis County in North Texas would have been bigger than the LHC, but in 1993 Congress canceled it after costs soared and questions were raised about its scientific value. More than 8,000 physicists from other labs around the world also have worked for the LHC. The organization is run by its 20 European member nations, with support from other countries, including Japan, India, Russia and the U.S.

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