Big Bang Day , september 10th 2008

[Bluenose]

Actually, even if the LHC does infact make a tiny black hole that is stable, a far from likely event, I have my dounts about how long it may take to end the world.  Since it would be made from a sub atomic particle (or perhaps the collision of two such, it would necessaril;y be much smaller than an atom, or even an atomic nucleus.  Therefore, as the little beastie falls trought the Earth, it would not actually collide with much, or very often, given that matter at that scale is almost entirely made of nothing.  Ignoring the effects of Hawking radiation, I think it might take a very long time indeed before it grew to a size that would have any noticeable effect on the planet.  It would not surprise me to learn that the time frame involved would be greater than the expected life-span of the Earth in any case.  In other words, the Earth might just get swallowed up by the sun well before it gets sucked into the black hole.

Of course all this is entirely speculative and I do not have the Maths to prove any of it, but what the hey?

[Sibling Qwertyuiopasd]

As long as they have crowbars handy in case of a resonance cascade, that's  fine by me.

Does anyone know what time it's going to happen? It'll probably happen while most of us Amerikaners are waking up.

~Qwerty

[beagle]

About 08:30 BST or 07:30 GMT which I think is 03:30 U.S. East Coast Daylight time. Though in the best tradition of Physics experiment it will probably need thumping and kicking for a while.

More stuff here. Even if you're keen enough to stay awake I don't know if Radio 4 lets you receive it outside the UK via internet.  Some stuff gets blocked for copyright reasons. However if CERN gave them exclusive access it's likely they'd insist on allowing it out, rather than insisting on keeping it in.

There are some people down a Welsh mineshaft here who reckon they'll find dark matter while the LHC people are still saving up for the electricity bill.

Lobby your congressperson to get busy; you must not allow a mineshaft gap!

P.S.

I'm not sure exactly what is going to happen at zero hour. Possibly the sound of several hundred physicists hunting in the dark to find the fuse box.

[Swatopluk]

An interesting aspect of a (in my view physically impossible) stable black hole of the mass of an elementary particle would be its charge. Since  it is assumed that the charge would be conserved, a black hole made from a proton or electron would interact with its environment more strongly by the electromagnetic force than by gravity.

[ivor]

Wouldn't a quantum black hole heat up the Earth?

[Pachyderm]

I think they switched it on last Thursday, but the ceremony was incorrectly scheduled, and the VIP's couldn't get out of their other commitments.

[Griffin NoName]

An interesting aspect of a (in my view physically impossible) stable black hole of the mass of an elementary particle would be its charge.

Possibly it could save our market economy and bail out the banks if it charges enough

[Black Bart]

About 08:30 BST or 07:30 GMT which I think is 03:30 U.S. East Coast Daylight time. Though in the best tradition of Physics experiment it will probably need thumping and kicking for a while.

More stuff here. Even if you're keen enough to stay awake I don't know if Radio 4 lets you receive it outside the UK via internet.  Some stuff gets blocked for copyright reasons. However if CERN gave them exclusive access it's likely they'd insist on allowing it out, rather than insisting on keeping it in.

There are some people down a Welsh mineshaft here who reckon they'll find dark matter while the LHC people are still saving up for the electricity bill.

Lobby your congressperson to get busy; you must not allow a mineshaft gap!

P.S.

I'm not sure exactly what is going to happen at zero hour. Possibly the sound of several hundred physicists hunting in the dark to find the fuse box.

I've never been anywhere near a Welsh mine shaft I'll have you know!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Wouldn't a quantum black hole heat up the Earth?

Not until it exploded.... 

[Swatopluk]

An interesting aspect of a (in my view physically impossible) stable black hole of the mass of an elementary particle would be its charge.

Possibly it could save our market economy and bail out the banks if it charges enough

A stable black hole could be used to get rid of nuclear waste too.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Wouldn't the resulting Hawking radiation be worse?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

An interesting aspect of a (in my view physically impossible) stable black hole of the mass of an elementary particle would be its charge.

Possibly it could save our market economy and bail out the banks if it charges enough

A stable black hole could be used to get rid of nuclear waste too.

Could we feed it all our politicians and lawyers?  We could tell them that it's their new place to practice law.... ?  Please?

[pieces o nine]

An interesting aspect of a (in my view physically impossible) stable black hole of the mass of an elementary particle would be its charge.

Possibly it could save our market economy and bail out the banks if it charges enough

A stable black hole could be used to get rid of nuclear waste too.

Could we feed it all our politicians and lawyers?  We could tell them that it's their new place to practice law.... ?  Please?

Could we tell them that these are Cheney-approved bunkers?  Please?

[Darlica]

Perhaps the Phelps should be the first to set up practise over there... Lawyers and religious nuts...

Sorry, not very Toadfishy but irresistible.    

[goat starer]

As long as they have crowbars handy in case of a resonance cascade, that's  fine by me.

~Qwerty

I never thought I'd see a resonance cascade. Let alone create one.

Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?