Asking a Judge to Save the World (from the Large Hadron Collider)

New York Times ^ | 3-29-08 | Dennis Overbye

[atomic conspiracy]

No, the LHC won’t destroy the Earth

The defendants will first have to convince their own lawyers to fight this, rather than recommend a precautionary shut-down. Since lawyers are to physics as cavemen are to spaceflight, that will take some doing. I've got it! Just remind them that there will be no liability suit if the plaintiffs are right. They will sign off right away.

[the_Watchman]

. . .a tiny black hole, which, they say, could eat the Earth. Or it could spit out something called a "strangelet" that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense dead lump of something called "strange matter."

That's one environmental impact statement which would make an interesting read!

[Diogenesis]

On the good side, the time constant for Earth’s destruction
by the microblack hole will be a thousand years.

On the gripping hand, this might be the reason why there
are no apparent Type 2 civilizations.

[Mark]

Does this mean that I may die some day?

[familyop]

"Or it could spit out something called a 'strangelet' that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense dead lump of something called 'strange matter.'"

That would be like...so cool.

[dr_lew]

This is the way the world ends. This is the way it always has ended, and this is the way it always will end.

[2ndDivisionVet]

The Mayas knew this would happen: 2012! LOL

[dr_lew]

Well, I was quoting Vonnegut! Or trying to ... Sirens of Titan, I believe.

[dr_lew]

Wait! No! Slaughterhouse Five, right?

Who knows! Who cares! Tune in next week! Same Fire time, same Fire station ... for Mark Time!

[PAR35]

The story is missing some key facts, such as why should the Swiss care what a judge in Hawaii says. Remember, the Swiss can tell you what to do with yourself in 4 official languages.

[SuziQ]

Goober ping!

[JennysCool]

Everything You Know is Wrong!!!

[Zeon Cowboy]

So I says, “Supercollider? I just met her!” And then they built the Supercollider. Thank you. You’ve been a great audience.

[xenophiles]

Others have pointed out how harmless a black hole would be (1. According to all theory it would evaporate so fast we probably wouldn't even be able to detect it, much as we'd like to, 2. even if it could endure it would almost certainly have enough residual velocity to leave Earth and never come back, and 3. even if it stayed here it would be so tiny and weak it wouldn't do much of anything).

As for strange matter, last time I studied that theoretical stuff, the theory was that it could absorb normal matter and grow only under conditions of very high pressure: the sun's core wouldn't be enough.

[Erasmus]

"Whew!!

Well! Seekers! This looks like the end!

Or, is it just the be..........

No. It's the end."

[Erasmus]

Gregory Benford wrote a fine SF novel on this subject, called “Cosm.”

[DB]

Well if they are right we’ll never know.

[Waco]

Art Bell and Larry King will host and bore the thing to death.

[backhoe]

[Jeff F]

For their entire life, the earth, sun and all other observable bodies have been bathed in cosmic rays vastly more energetic than anything the LHC will ever produce (as much as 10^21 eV compared with less than 10^12 eV for the LHC). So far we have managed to avoid being destroyed by strangelets, micro black holes, and other fantastical hobgoblins.

The cosmic ray background extends to nine orders of magnitude more energetic than the worst the LHC will dish out, and is only six orders of magnitude away from the Planck energy.