Little Black Holes.

[Andy in Sig]

I saw an alarming thing on the German Telly last night. Apparently there is a seriously good chance that the CERN particle accelerator could generate a sub-microscopic black hole as a by product of atomic collisions. The problem with black holes is that they can only grow.

A professor of chaos theory was wheeled on who said that such a thing would inevitably gobble up the planet but it was impossible to calculate whether it would take five or a thousand years to do it.

I find this possibility to be a seriously alarming one but I'm not enough of a physicist to be able to comment knowledgeably on it. If it is possible shouldn't these experiments be stopped right away? I don't think the tax payer should be funding the even theoretically possible vanishing of the planet.

 

[Haitch]

Take a look at this, Andy.

 

[Night Train]

I think it would be extremely unlikely that a black hole would be formed. The Large Hadron Collider isn't quite big enough and not enough energy is being put in.

This has been talked about in the tabloid press for over a year now. Would be interesting if it did happen though.

 

[Smeggers]

I heard there was a group challenging it in court. Albeit headed by some crack pot 'scientist'.

 

[GaryA]

Dont worry andy, if it does appear it will only exist for a nanosecond or such and join the long list of other nanosecond mathematical constructs maskerading as sub-atomic particles

 

[wafflycat]

I saw an alarming thing on the German Telly last night. Apparently there is a seriously good chance that the CERN particle accelerator could generate a sub-microscopic black hole as a by product of atomic collisions. The problem with black holes is that they can only grow.

No, there isn't a seriously good chance, there is a potential tiny risk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/universe/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/universe/vote/

It's about a 1 in 50,000,000 chance apparently, which is hardly classified as a 'seriously good chance'

And

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html

But it would make for a seriously fun Hollywood blockbuster where we could all be saved from being sucked into a black hole by Bruce Willis and a team of itinerent oil-drilling has-beens.

 

[Melvil]

From what I read, they're going to make a tiny black hole partly to demonstrate the existence of hawking radiation (where black holes lose matter through quantum effects, despite light not getting out of them) - so a black hole that small would evaporate almost instantly.

Now they're reasonably certain that hawking radiation exists but, well, if it doesn't........................there goes the planet.

 

[And]

"A professor of chaos theory was wheeled on who said that such a thing would inevitably gobble up the planet...."

as long as it starts with Liverpool, I'll be OK with that

 

[Dayvo]

These are the buggers to look out for: Neutrinos

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4862112.stm


They travel through space at thousands of km a second, and penetrate anything in its way, the earth included!

 

[Andy in Sig]

No, there isn't a seriously good chance, there is a potential tiny risk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/universe/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/universe/vote/

It's about a 1 in 50,000,000 chance apparently, which is hardly classified as a 'seriously good chance'

And

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html

But it would make for a seriously fun Hollywood blockbuster where we could all be saved from being sucked into a black hole by Bruce Willis and a team of itinerent oil-drilling has-beens.

But given the possible consequences, I think that those are far too short odds to take the chance. I think I prefer the hysterical alarmist approach.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

But given the possible consequences, I think that those are far too short odds to take the chance. I think I prefer the hysterical alarmist approach.

Don't Panic, Mr Mainwaring .... Don't Panic

 

[marinyork]

I saw an alarming thing on the German Telly last night. Apparently there is a seriously good chance that the CERN particle accelerator could generate a sub-microscopic black hole as a by product of atomic collisions. The problem with black holes is that they can only grow.

A professor of chaos theory was wheeled on who said that such a thing would inevitably gobble up the planet but it was impossible to calculate whether it would take five or a thousand years to do it.

I find this possibility to be a seriously alarming one but I'm not enough of a physicist to be able to comment knowledgeably on it. If it is possible shouldn't these experiments be stopped right away? I don't think the tax payer should be funding the even theoretically possible vanishing of the planet.

Andy, you seem to have gotten completely the wrong end of the stick. A few people actually really hope that mini black holes are created at LHC. The idea crudely is that of a shower head where there are lots of extra dimensions but gravity (the hierarchy problem) is only really strong right next to the shower head and gets diluted out rapidly. If this theory is correct and you hit the sweet spot, the extra gravity would be able to make these mini black holes (that would then just radiate themselves out of existence).

 

[simonali]

It's about a 1 in 50,000,000 chance apparently, which is hardly classified as a 'seriously good chance'

That's about the same odds as winning the Euro lottery isn't it? I assume no-one's ever won that?

 

[rich p]

I'm just hoping Smokin Joe doesn't see the thread title and get the wrong end of the stick!

 

[Andy in Sig]

Andy, you seem to have gotten completely the wrong end of the stick. A few people actually really hope that mini black holes are created at LHC. The idea crudely is that of a shower head where there are lots of extra dimensions but gravity (the hierarchy problem) is only really strong right next to the shower head and gets diluted out rapidly. If this theory is correct and you hit the sweet spot, the extra gravity would be able to make these mini black holes (that would then just radiate themselves out of existence).

I do hope I have got the wrong end of the stick. I still notice that you say "If the theory is correct ..."

What if the layman's view of it turns out to be correct i.e. an incredibly dense little blob sucks in all the less dense blobs around it, then CERN, then Switzerland and so on.

I think I would like to see a serious outbreak of Luddite thinking on this matter.