End of the world 10th Sept 2008

[Luna]

SCIENTISTS are trying to stop the most powerful experiment ever – saying the black holes it will create could destroy the world.

Dubbed by some the Doomsday test, it will be carried out next week in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located 300ft underground near the French-Swiss border.

The machine is 17 miles long and cost £4.4billion to create.

When its switch is pulled on September 10, this atom-smasher will become a virtual time machine, revealing what happened when the universe came into existence 14 billion years ago.

New particles of matter are expected to be discovered, new dimensions found beyond the four known, as scientists re-create conditions in the first BILLIONTHS of a second after the Big Bang.

The atom smasher ... the 17-mile-long machine that some fear will destroy our planet

The atom smasher ... the 17-mile-long machine that some fear will destroy our planet

Experts even predict that millions of tiny black holes will be produced — baby brothers of the monsters gobbling up dust and stars at the heart of the galaxies.
Secrets

That is why boffins are now trying to stop the project with a last-ditch challenge in the courts.

They fear the LHC experimenters are tinkering with the unknown and putting mankind — and our whole planet — at risk.

The group responsible for the experiment, the European Nuclear Research Centre (CERN), says that these mini black holes will vanish as quickly as they are created.

But the anti-CERN brigade accuse the scientists of playing God, warning that no one can guarantee that the black holes will not survive, rapidly growing in size to suck the Earth out of existence in an instant.

But CERN, which includes several UK scientists, say their work is vital to unlock the secrets of matter that forms everything known in the universe.

In the experiment, atomic particles will be fired in opposite directions along the 17-mile long underground ring — the length of the Circle Line on the London Underground.

They will travel so fast that they make 11,245 trips around the tunnel every SECOND.

From the collisions, boffins expect to discover a fundamental bit of the atom, called the Higgs boson, that is expected to exist but which has never been seen.

Professor Otto Rossler, from the Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen in Germany, is one of the scientists mounting the legal challenge at the European Court of Human Rights against 20 countries which are funding the project.

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He said: “It is quite plausible that these little black holes will survive and will grow and eat the planet from the inside out.”

A CERN spokesman said: “It will not be producing anything that does not already happen routinely in nature.”

this was the only article i could copy but if you google it you'll find loads of stuff Supposed to happen this wednesday at 8.30am uk time

[Abi]

They are only trying to stop it now?! They've been working on it for years! If they were that concerned that it was dangerous, then they should have stopped it years ago.

[Siobhan]

Just about to post this Luna.. you beat me to it.. so Sorry Bry. no SBBB3 then...

for some facts:

At Cern on French-Swiss border
One of biggest and most expensive experiments in human history
Critics say micro black holes could be created, that could swallow the earth
Cern says any black holes will evaporate quickly and harmlessly
Effects will be less than cosmic ray collisions in atmosphere
Collisions could shed light on creation of universe
First beam on Wednesday
First collision later in year
Action ongoing at European Court of Human Rights to stop experiments
LHC Kritiks lead opposition

[Bryan]

i dont know if i should laugh or cry at this lol...it sounds very worrying

[Abi]

But they are recreating the Big Bang. There was no black holes when the world was created, else we wouldn't be here. So why would this be any different? It's a load of rubbish, i say.

[sindydoll]

well we wont know anything about it! we will just go

[Perdita]

Oh no, I want to see how things pan out in EE and Corrie. Mind you, I suppose they will not know themselves.

[Siobhan]

Oh no, I want to see how things pan out in EE and Corrie. Mind you, I suppose they will not know themselves.

I want to know how LOST ends, can die before that

[.:SpIcYsPy:.]

I can't believe they are potentially putting the whole world/universe or whatever it is at risk. But as sindydoll said.. We hopefully wouldn't know anything about it if it did happen.. I just hope it's painless and no one is left on Earth or anything like that lol..

[Abigail]

But they are recreating the Big Bang. .

Not the big bang, the billionths of a second after the big bang.

They've been building this at CERN for 54 years. If it was really that dangerous then the top scientists of the 20 countries funding this would have voiced their concerns years ago.

Some of these scientists opposing this don't even specialise in this area, one is a pharmacist. This is just scaremongering by people who don't have a clue what they're talking about and aren't involved in the project.

I wouldn't say that this is a test that must be carried out but it is certainly interesting and will help scientists find out exactly what happened and how life began.

I did particle physics at A level so I know a fair bit about CERN, particle accelerators and how they work. If this experiment was so dangerous, 10,000 scientists would not put the world at risk to find out what happened 14 billion years ago.

I for one am looking forward to the results of this experiment