Large Hadron Collider ready to roll again ... unless God stops it first
A little more than a year after its ill-fated debut, the Large Hadron Collider is getting ready to roll again. The controversial device, including an 18-mile circular tunnel -- bigger than the London Underground's Circle Line -- is housed in the gigantic CERN laboratory in the Jura mountains just outside of Geneva, on the border of France and Switzerland. Using the particle collider, the largest ever built, would allow scientists to re-create conditions that existed a trillionth of a second after the big bang, as well as prove the existence of the spooky "Higgs boson" entity, also called the "God Particle" which give "things" (including living things like you and me) their mass. It is further anticipated to solve the mystery of "dark matter" and shed light on many other quirky physics conundrums.
Not everyone is happy about the Hadron's snappy comeback. Some scientists fear the experiment could cause several tiny black holes to form, which would grow and devour the entire Earth. Still others, like Dr. Holger Bech Neilson of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen believe that the manufacture of Higgs bosons may be so "abhorrent" to nature," as Dennis Overbye wrote in the New York Times, that their creation would cause ripples backward through time to stop the collider before it could produce one, much like the paradox of a time traveler going back in time to halt his own birth by killing his grandfather. Neilson calls the collider's problems an "anti-miracle" and adds, tongue-not-entirely-in-cheek, that the collider's epic failure in 2008 might actually have proved the existence of God. Got your head around that one?
What is even scarier about the Large Hadron Collider, however, is that one of the CERN physicists working on the project (his name has not been released) was arrested Oct. 12 on suspicion of having Al Qaeda connections.
-- Richard Metzger
Photo: CERN
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The Hadron Collider can run until the cows come home and yet no one will find the God atom.
Yes, there is a God, and in the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in the heavens and the earth including humans.
It may be a hard concept to believe but just read and study your bible. It is all there, and more and more evidence is found each year to prove the authenticity of the Bible.
The Collider costs $9billion and will never be able to prove or disprove the God atom. For $20.00 or less, purchase a bible and it will prove how the earth began. All you have to do is believe.
Posted by: 1silentknight | 11/02/2009 at 07:36 PM
Push the button.
Posted by: UcvbnBjfyuvs | 11/02/2009 at 09:41 PM
What a terrible, ignorant post. Sensationalistic, with no appreciation of the science. There is no risk from LHC. Cosmic ray protons far more energetic than the LHC will create slam into the earth every day, with no harm done. Watch the Colbert Report interview with the chief proponent of this fraud before publishing this idiocy.
These aren't "quirky" physics conundrums - they are fundamental issues about the universe we live in.
Posted by: Phys | 11/02/2009 at 09:53 PM
Why isen't anyone putting a stop to this Hadron Collider experiment? Who is financing such an horrible project? I'm sure I'm not the only one asking these very basic and ovvious questions.
Posted by: Cristina MacGlaughlin | 11/02/2009 at 11:53 PM
Higg's boson? Sounds familiar. I think I might have one gathering dust in the garage.
Old man Higg's next door threw out a bunch of stuff a few years ago and mentioned that he had several bosons sitting around and that I could have one if I wanted. He couldn't figure out what they were or what they were supposed to do, so he decided to throw them out. He was no scientist, but he liked to collect stuff. Lots of stuff. And he had a lot of really strange stuff in that old house of his.
Anyway, after reading this article, I don't know whether or not I should try to find that boson after all. Supposing I dropped it, or God-forbid, broke it. Then what?
Maybe I'll just leave well-enough alone. Let sleeping bosons lie.
Can't have any loose black holes playing fast and loose with the space-time continuum now, can we?
Posted by: Carl_W_Goss | 11/03/2009 at 12:17 AM
Um, isn't this about the same time of year the Mayans predicted the end of the year to be? I know its two years off but maybe we shouldn't be taking chances that have any possibility what so ever of destroying the earth around that time. If nobody has predicted it could we hold it off until January or February, you know just in case.
I am a believer in divine intervention, but if you stand in the middle of a busy highway, you are going to get hit. Lets take all precautions necessary so we don't risk any lives, whether it be the scientist or the almost seven billion others.
Oh and also maybe we shouldn't be doing anything stupid in December of 2012, just so we don't cause an appocalypse on our own
Posted by: Arizona234 | 11/03/2009 at 07:36 AM
So Dr. Holger Bech Neilson of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen believes that the manufacture of Higgs bosons may be "abhorrent" to nature. Next I imagine he'll start calculating how many angels can stand on the end of a pin. Those results might make for some interesting copy as well but would be just as much rubbish! I guess it's all good so long as Mr. Neilson isn't being supported in his life here on earth by taxpayer money. If so, that would certainly be a paradox as well as abhorrent to all of us.
Posted by: Frank Urey | 11/03/2009 at 07:40 AM
The most scary aspect of the LHC is how it illuminates peoples irrational belief systems. Our best understanding of the situation is that the LHC is safe and has no possibility of destroying the earth or universe and yet people are still reading tea leaves, staring at their crystal balls or asking laymen draped in religious fervor if it's the end of the world.
Really, now. Let the scientists go about their science. Or maybe you'd rather your priest perform your surgery, your mechanic can run your business and you can find a football coach to give you investment advice.
Why are people so eager to throw out the analysis of experts for the rantings of the unqualified?
Posted by: Randy | 11/03/2009 at 08:01 AM
I'm pretty sure nature finds vacuums abhorrent as well but we still make Hoovers. I say find the God particle, step on it and prove Nietzsche right once and for all!
Posted by: Jesco | 11/03/2009 at 08:08 AM
1silentknight, the Bible is crap.
It was written and rewritten by MEN - it's the ultimate game of Grapevine. I love all you Cafeteria Christians picking and choosing just the convenient stuff, unless you actually believe the following passages in your so-called "good book".
http://placeburnedover.ning.com/forum/topics/terrible-bible-verses-lets
You probably won't bother to click the link above, though. It won't fit with your narrow world-view, and the resulting cognitive dissonance will make your tiny brain explode.
Don' worry. If that happens, it was all in god's plan.
Posted by: RationalThinker | 11/03/2009 at 08:09 AM
Funny post. Even managed to work Al Qaeda into it. Is the God Particle a Muslim God Particle or a Christian God Particle?
Posted by: Gary Rolyate | 11/03/2009 at 08:12 AM
I did spend $20 on a Bible. It tells me that God hates shrimp (Lev11) and if my kid talks back to me I should stone him to death (Deut21). No thanks God!
Posted by: Adam Kryyix | 11/03/2009 at 08:19 AM
Can't you people just shut the front door already? Your comments are all pointless and meaningless.
Posted by: anthony | 11/03/2009 at 08:25 AM
... push the button
Posted by: Geoff | 11/03/2009 at 08:45 AM
Fear mongers. When they tested the first atomic bomb, people thought it would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the planet.
When the year 2000 came around people said that the world would have several man made disasters and airplanes would fall from the sky.
Posted by: Joseph | 11/03/2009 at 09:14 AM
I hope that these comments are saved for posterity so that in 100 years our descendants can see the paradox of our great advancements in science coupled with the mass ignorance of same reflected in this article and the fear-mongering god comments.
Posted by: Jonathan Stewart | 11/03/2009 at 10:16 AM
These scientists remind me of that old redneck joke that goes, "Whats the last thing a redneck says before he dies? He ya'all watch this!". Lets hope we have nothing to be conCERNed about.
Posted by: Jack Ace | 11/03/2009 at 10:22 AM
it is the Allah particle, you fakirs….
al quaeda is the CIA, sure I bet the CIA has a hand in the particle collider.
Posted by: bin laden in the basement | 11/03/2009 at 12:03 PM
Cosmic rays hit neutron stars all the time. Each such collision is a hadron-hadron collision with much greater energy than anything the LHC is capable of, and neutron stars are so dense that the products of such collisions cannot simply pass through the star. So:
If high-energy hadron collisions created matter-swallowing black holes, no neutron stars would exist, because they'd all be consumed by black holes much faster than they form.
If high-energy hadron collisions created matter-transforming runaway strangelet reactions, no neutron stars would exist, because they'd all be transformed within days of forming by cosmic rays.
If high-energy hadron collisions expose the Higgs boson and exposing the Higgs causes time travel to prevent the exposure, no cosmic rays would exist, because the universe would twist time to prevent them from ever being emitted.
The current observed state of the universe is absolute proof that none of the supposed world-destroying or reality-twisting consequences of the LHC can actually come true.
Worrying about being killed by the LHC is like worrying about an asteroid hitting Mars, kicking up dust that contains a Martian bacterium, the dust traveling across interplanetary space, the dust entering the Earth's atmosphere, you breathing in the dust, and the bacterium infecting and destroying your lungs.
Except, you know, the Mars-death scenario is actually physically possible, unlike the LHC-death one. Go get your breath masks!
Posted by: Steven | 11/03/2009 at 12:33 PM
from the comments: "Why are people so eager to throw out the analysis of experts for the rantings of the unqualified?" Said the expert in the early 20 century who claimed it was impossible that man would ever fly.
One mans expert is another mans fool. All scientific advances carry a downside and as we get further towards God's teritory these get more and more important to investigate. Bioethics classes would not exist in colleges if this were not so.
Posted by: Boyd | 11/03/2009 at 12:48 PM
It seems that many non-scientists are weighing in commenting on matters about which they know nothing. Folks, that doesn't make you look smart it makes you look doctrinaire .
Posted by: mason | 11/03/2009 at 01:04 PM
I level of ignorance in many posts here is stunning. Just what will happen when they "push the button"?? No one knows. No one. I once worked with a fellow who was in the Army in the early 50s. They were hauled out to the deserts of New Mexico, told to dig trenches and lie in the bottom of them and to cover they heads. When the nuclear weapon went off, he said he could see the bones in his hands. Once the blast passed and the worst of the dust settled, they would walk through the blast site in full field gear. He was the last survivor of his squad - all others had died of various types of cancer. They were assured there was no danger. We would show the world we could fight in the midst of a nuclear war. MMmmmm - not so much.
So, for those who claim that all is safe and secure I would only ask: Really?? Are you sure??
Posted by: W. Keller | 11/03/2009 at 01:13 PM
The Mayans, ahhh, the Mayans!! Sheesh, did their super-duper calender predict their demise?
Posted by: Parad E. Makewater | 11/03/2009 at 01:45 PM
How fast can you download pron on this thing?
Posted by: Judas Priest | 11/03/2009 at 02:14 PM
Having the fear of the unknown is natural. The same people who fear this machine are the ones who reap the benifits of the process of technology and discovery every day. We need to push discovery in order to survive. With a population explosion like we are haveing the thought of not pushing the envelope of technology would only condem us to a savage and apocolyptic ending as seen in fictional movies. Fear the unknown but do not condem it otherwise we are never meant to move forward.
Posted by: Ron Grondin | 11/03/2009 at 02:58 PM