Large Hadron Collider

[blobrana]

Scientists have successfully test fired the first beam of protons around the 27-kilometer underground tunnel below the Swiss-French border. The Large Hadron Collider - a multi-billion particle accelerator - was switched on at 07:30 GMT.  
The event marks the start of the biggest experiment in physics for a generation, and is hoped to shed light on the origins of the universe.

Ed ~ As a side note, it should be mentioned that although the forces and particle energies generated in the Large Hadron Collider are colossal, they pale into insignificance compared with the energies of natural cosmic rays generated in deep space, that bombard the earth everyday.

[motorollin]

As far as I can tell, the universe still exists. So that's good then.

[X-ray]

Apparently in Phase 2 of the project, they are going to bombard one of Blobzie's gym socks with particles from Bloodline's sock, in order to see if that creates new life.

[bloodline]

X-ray wrote:
Apparently in Phase 2 of the project, they are going to bombard one of Blobzie's gym socks with particles from Bloodline's sock, in order to see if that creates new life.

I'm strangely aroused...

[blobrana]

Hum,
lets have a look at the first experiment....


LHC Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment Webcams

See more

[Damion]

Updates here:

http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/

:-P

[bloodline]

-D- wrote:
Updates here:

http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/

:-P

Wow! That's pretty accurate :-o

[meega]

Surely all hadrons are the same size, give or take a teensy little bit...

[motorollin]

How do we know it didn't destroy the universe and then create a new one? Or maybe alter this one a bit? Of course any change would have to be one which resulted in the machine still being created and used. Maybe we have been through countless permutations each with the machine altering reality in a slightly different way, until this reality eventually resulted in the machine being created and used in an identical way to the one which caused the change in the first place. We would never know.

:crazy:

(Alternatively, absolutely nothing happened.)

[bloodline]

+1 to Moto for obvious clarity of thought :-D

[motorollin]

For which bit? The reality-altering nonsense, or the bit about nothing happening? ;-)

I put a dishwasher tablet in the dishwasher this evening and it disappeared from sight. I couldn't work out where it had gone. My other half suggested maybe the LHC was to blame. He seemed to be suggesting that the LHC has created some kind of a black hole which goes around absorbing dishwasher tablets. Sounds plausible enough to me.

[persia]

I suggest we all have a drink in memory of the Earth, 15 Billion BC to AD 09/09/2008.  Rest in Peace.

[Zac67]

motorollin wrote:
How do we know it didn't destroy the universe and then create a new one? Or maybe alter this one a bit? Of course any change would have to be one which resulted in the machine still being created and used. Maybe we have been through countless permutations each with the machine altering reality in a slightly different way, until this reality eventually resulted in the machine being created and used in an identical way to the one which caused the change in the first place.

According to some experts this is exactly what happens perpetually even without an LHC at hand - see Douglas Adams for details.  :lol:  SCNR

[motorollin]

The idea of constantly changing realities is a total headf**k. It potentially means that every moment we experience is the last one ever to exist within the current universe. That means that this current universe, the one we are perceiving now, is the most recent one, and the next to be replaced in the immediate future. I find this really hard to get my head around, because I can't extract myself from my perception of the past as things which have definitely happened and are unchangeable, the present which is more than just a singular, transitory point in time which can be destroyed as soon as it comes in to existence, and the future which seems to be moving in to the present all the time. Whenever I try to comprehend this, I end up visualising the present stretching out in to the future and always being at the "front of the line" of all the permutations of the universe. I suppose that's because it is so hard to conceptualise the destruction of the universe and its replacement with a different one.

:crazy:

[Zac67]

Well, even the ancient Greeks have pondered on this and more than 2k years later we're no wiser. From a pratical POV, where's the difference? There's most probably NO way to find out what's REALLY going on in this huge and strangely mysterious universe - so we should stick to the things we can understand and bear the rest with humor.

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened." (Douglas Adams, of course)

I'm dead sure that when the LHC proves parts of the string theory, some new insights will show that there's still something missing and we're not there yet after all. I don't expect this to change ever...