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The safety dance

LHC.jpgThe physicists at the Large Hadron Collider, a giant particle accelerator at CERN near Geneva, have taken a bit of time off from trying to get their shiny new toy up and running to address concerns that it might inadvertently destroy the planet. Their conclusion? It won’t.

For those in need of an reminder, Walter Wagner, a Hawaiian botanist-cum-physicist indicted in February for identity theft, is suing the LHC and its partners because, he says, the particle accelerator could destroy the earth any one of a number of ways. It might create microscopic black holes that could swallow us all. Or it could make particles called “strangelets” that will turn the entire earth into a big blob of “strange” matter.

The new report rightly points out that there are plenty of places in the universe where particles collide at far higher energies than they will in LHC. There are also collisions right here in our upper atmosphere caused by cosmic rays—high-energy particles from deep space. So far at least, none of this has caused the planet to vanish.

To physicists, this whole debate is pretty silly, but it’s good that they’re taking the time to respond. Wagner and his cronies have been getting a lot of press, and it’s important that the public know that the LHC is the least of the world’s problems.

Image: CERN

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    JTankers said:

    So the good news is that CERN’s SPC Committee validates CERNs safety report that deems the LHC Collider safe!… As we all expected. But the small disclaimer is a bit concerning to me…

    … this argument relies on properties of cosmic rays and neutrinos that, while highly plausible, do require confirmation, as can be expected in the coming years.

    And the Large Hadron Collider is expected to begin collisions in the coming months, not the coming years…

    Is it still possible that micro black holes might be to weak to eat dense “Neutron food”?

    Or is it still possible that the unique conditions in high energy colliders might create micro black holes while a single cosmic ray collision might not?

    Could the several PHDs and Professors of Math and Physics that refute the certainty of Hawking Radiation still be correct?

    no compelling theoretical case for or against radiation by black holes

    Could Dr. Otto Rossler’s math be correct?

    …after 50 months the earth to a centimeter would have shrunk. It would be nothing more there, not only no more life, there but also the earth would be… a small black hole.

    I can’t tell you there is no risk either, but I can not assure you that this is perfectly safe. I think it just might be perfectly dangerous.

    Have you read what a growing list of credible scientists are saying at LHCFacts.org?

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