Concern Over Creating Black Holes

Maria Williams writes to tell us about worry surrounding the impending startup of CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Some fear that the device, in creating mini black holes, could jeopardize Life As We Know It. While the tiny black holes should evaporate quickly — throwing off so-called Hawking radiation that can be detected — CERN software developer Ran Livneh reminds us that "Any physicist will tell you that there is no way to prove that generated black holes will decay." The LHC site assures us there's nothing to worry about. The flap is reminiscent of the time the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider went live. The worry then was that "negative strangelets" could gobble up the world.

Ack!

[ultramk]

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

It's already begun!

m-

Calling Dr. Freeman

[CerebusUS]

As long as Gordon Freeman is there to watch over the experiment, I think we'll all be okay. Maybe.

I hear the Vortigaunts are our allies.

Creating them is a problem

[Rik Sweeney]

The worry then was that "negative strangelets" could gobble up the world.

You see, the problem is that we could all get sucked off before we know what's going on.

The world didn't end last time...

[Skyshadow]

Seems to me that the only real problem with blowing this sort of thing off by saying "this is just like last time when we tried something that had a small chance of destroying the world and it worked out okay then" is that you really only have to be wrong once.

"Oh shit! Yeah, our bad -- man, are our faces red. Sorry about that, everybody."

its one way to go...

[russ1337]

Well, it beats being hit by a bus....

Standing at the pearly gates it would be a great converstation starter... "oh yeah? I was killed by a black hole...."

Am I the only one that read....

[LordPhantom]

....Hard On Collider? I think I'd prefer an earth swallowing black hole.

That's not quite the way it would happen

[Bruce Perens]

The black holes would only eat up Kurt Vonnegut. However, the efect would be the same as if they ate up the whole world, since it's all a figment of his imagination.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

No way?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Any physicist will tell you that there is no way to prove that generated black holes will decay."

Of course there's a way. Empirical research, just like they're doing. First you make a black hole, then you see if it expands until it destroys all life on earth. Simple, straight forwards, effective.

I thought everyone knew...

[LinuxGeek]

This is the reason that the Earth entry was changed from "Harmless" to "Mostly harmless".

Re:its one way to go...

[Wudbaer]

Yeah, but image the length of the queue !

Re:Creating them is a problem

[Rik Sweeney]

You see, the problem is that we could all get sucked off before we know what's going on.

I meant sucked in.

Of course he's not a real person...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Yet

Re:its one way to go...

[PrescriptionWarning]

Make sure you buy your SpeedPass at your local church.

Re:The world didn't end last time...

[spun]

I think microscopic black holes couldn't eat up the earth due to the three stooges problem. They are so small that only an atom at a time can get in, but the gravity is strong enough to try to suck in more, so all the atoms get bunched up around the event horizon like the three stooges all trying to get through a door at the same time. Problem nullified. Whoop hoop oop! Nyuck nyuck, why I oughta!

Re:The biggest word in that sentence

[ajenteks]

The smallest word obviously being tiny :)

OK, imagine the black hole not decaying...

[Yonzie]

What will happen?

We'll all die. Simultaneously. Noone will feel anything.

What's the big problem aside from the end of the earth?

Has anyone seen my car keys?

[Easy2RememberNick]

"Has anyone seen my car keys? I set them right next to the collider."

  This reminds when I read Brian Greene's Elegant Universe, he mentioned that there was a possibilty of creating another Universe when (if it were possible) smashing together Superstrings. Something like that, I'm not sure where I put the book.

Re:its one way to go...

[Anonymous Coward]

And those of us who believe in reincarnation will be stuck in an infinite loop!

Re:The world didn't end last time...

[2short]

I remember that last time, and I think a friend of mine summed it up best:

"Scientists constructing a device that could potentially destroy the earth? Don't we have super-heroes to deal with this sort of thing?"

Re:Utter Crap

[Rob T Firefly]

I can't wait to see the headlines in 2007 - "Will the Earth end tomorrow?" (subheading: "Respectable scientists say 'No'").

The beauty of it is, either way the papers won't have to print up a retraction the next day.

Better we kill ourselves...

[thebdj]

before the big asteroid or comet comes. Or the sun goes red giant. Or the sun shoots off enough matter to defeat the ozone and expose us all to radiation. (Yes, I have heard this one.) Oh, or Yellowstone goes all explosion on us and brings about a second ice age or something. (There was a Docu-drama on this one.) Oh, or maybe the moon can be partially destroyed and threaten to crash into earth. (Reference to a ABC Family comedy or in some ways to Cowboy Bebop). Oh, or nuclear winter. I am sure I forgot some.

But better us then nature!

Re:Please, for the love of God...

[OakDragon]

...Civil war in America, which was predicted to begin in 2004, around the time of the presidential election...

On November 3rd, 2004, civil war was narrowly averted when Kerry supporters realized that only 0.03% of them owned a gun.

Re:That's not quite the way it would happen

[monoqlith]

If the black hole is inside the world, doesn't that mean Vonnegut will disappear into his own imagination?

Woah, man. I think you just blew my mind.

keanureeves If I even have a mind.... /keanureeves

And here I sit...

[TimeOnMyHands]

working in a small cubicle, doing nothing that will ever even change the world, while these guys are working on a project that could destroy the world! I'm so jealous... I've made bad choices.

Re:The world didn't end last time...

[IAmTheDave]

-if- it were the case that it does not dissipate, then there's a potential problem.

You sound like Einstein - "um, i don't THINK the a-bomb will create a chain reaction of splitting atoms that will destroy the universe as we know it... but... just in case you might wanna get you some of that AFLAK insurance."

I bet you $1,000,000...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

...that the world won't end as a result of this experiment. Any takers?

Re:Creating them is a problem

[DiamondGeezer]

We know what you meant. Pervert.

Re:What happens when multiple black holes combine?

[tinkerghost]

Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?

Re:Civil War

[Paleomacus]

"Condoleezza" - two Es, two Zs, just remember "very EZ".

Ahhh, so that's what happened to her teeth...

Re:its one way to go...

[the dark hero]

Martin Luther would not approve of such indulgences

Obligatory

[Xichekolas]

... I for one welcome our Large Hadron Overlords ...

Re:Creating them is a problem

[Reverend528]

I prefer the confusion of getting sucked off before I know what's going on.

Trust me, the last thing you want is to be sucked off by a black hole.

Re:Utter Crap

[bigtimepie]

Of course there will be a headline the next day, granted the earth remains.

"Earth NOT Destroyed"

What, you think reporters aren't complete idiots?

Where do they think black holes come from!?!?

[brundlefly]

Every black hole in existence in the universe is a result of some fairly advanced civilization reaching a point where each eventually says "Hey, let's build a Large Hadron Collider and see what happens".

The rest, as they say, is astronomical history....

already too late...

[Glog]

For the black-hole-fearing crowd... RIAA/MPAA morphed into a black hole a long time ago.

Re:You are correct

[KingSkippus]

So... That's a yes, right?

Re:OMG Crazy People

[ozmanjusri]

I can't believe people are scared of being sucked into nothingness.

Exactly. And here's me thinking all the negative strangelets just hung out on MySpace.