Ah yes. Americans and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). See below.
Posted: May 23, 2008
11:40 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Could the upcoming launch of the world's biggest atomic particle smasher – nicknamed the Big Bang Machine – touch off a cataclysmic event that dooms our planet?That's the fear of some critics of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, which is built to slam protons together at an unprecedented peak energy of 14 trillion electron volts – nearing levels scientists believe were reached in the first microseconds after the "big bang."
The critics have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government and the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, known as CERN, as scientists prepare to bring the collider online in July.
Co-plaintiffs Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho fear that when the collider reaches full power, it could create black holes or strangelets that would grow and eventually consume the Earth.
A black hole is a region of space so dense that light cannot escape its gravitational pull. Scientists have not proved the existence of strangelets, a hypothetical cosmological object containing an exotic form of matter.
Physicists at CERN and similar research facilities dismiss the doomsday claim as nonsense. But Wagner, a former nuclear safety officer who says he's studied physics for more than 30 years, wants the project shelved for four months to allow time for further safety reviews.
Fermilab in Illinois, which has the lead U.S. role in the Large Hadron Collider, also is a defendant in the suit, along with the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, according to MSNBC.
The Justice Department says it will not comment on the case before it files a response next month.
Federal attorneys are not expected to focus on the black hole question. They have successfully handled previous lawsuits by Wagner by narrowing their defense to issues such as claims the government and government-funded scientists have complied with environmental guidelines.
Scientists at CERN hope to see the first low-power proton collisions later this summer or in the fall. The collider will not reach full power – the big bang energies – until next year. By that time the Justice Department hopes the legal issues will be resolved.
OH happy day.
1 comment:
In order for Earth to be in danger from micro black holes, the following would need to be true:
- Micro black holes would need to be creatable at collider energies. This is unknown.
- Micro black holes would need to be stable and not decay. This is unknown.
- Micro black holes would need to grow quickly. This is also unknown.
Cosmic ray impacts do not prove safety because results of cosmic rays pass through Earth and into space at nearly the speed of light.
The probability of danger is unknown, the legal action currently before US Federal Courts estimates high risk.
Wikipedia, Safety of the Large Hadron Collider LHCFacts.org LHCDefense.org
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