Large Hadron Collider to be booted up Wednesday

[Crippler]

The time has finally come to fire this thing up and begin ripping holes in the space/time continuum. That's some awesome shit right there.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.

Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.

There are many theories as to what will result from these collisions, but what's for sure is that a brave new world of physics will emerge from the new accelerator, as knowledge in particle physics goes on to describe the workings of the Universe. For decades, the Standard Model of particle physics has served physicists well as a means of understanding the fundamental laws of Nature, but it does not tell the whole story. Only experimental data using the higher energies reached by the LHC can push knowledge forward, challenging those who seek confirmation of established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the paradigm.

This Wednesday, the eggheads will boot this baby up and fire the first shot of protons around the 17-mile ring @ 3AM EST. It will be streamed live over the interweb. From this Wednesday forward, our understanding of physics as we know it may change forever. (All those physics courses down the tubes.) I may set my alarm to get up and watch this insane, history making event. I just don't want to miss the, "OH SHIT!" moment either. This thing could actually create small, micro blackholes.

Read more here: CERN - The Large Hadron Collider

[ZoomZoom71]

Should we start printing out important documents that are currently in digital form only? I'd hate to lose all my backups from some unexpected magnetic field disruption.

[supafreak]

I read about this yesterday. It will be interesting to see what happens once they fire this baby up. I also have the sudden urge to watch the Back to The Future trilogy now.

[Crippler]

This is the first man-made instrument that reminds me of the book/movie "Contact". Sadly, Carl Sagan is not with us to see this baby get fired.

[dmiller68]

They are not colliding anything for a couple weeks. They are just going to send them one way on Weds. So the earth being sucked into a micro blackhole won't happen Weds. So you have plenty of time to say your goodbyes.

I think this is really cool and I hope they find all kinds of positive things from it.

[Wondermonkey]

Yes. Jodie Foster's father in Contact = Stewii Griffin.

I was reading about this the other day, I'd like to watch it live on the interwebs too. Should be pretty damn cool.

[namehater]

i cant imagine what you will actually be able to 'see'. anybody know if this will be broadcast on tv? is there going to be a live showing of it? i would rather watch it on tv than some low-res internet video.

[Crippler]

Yeah, no collisions yet. I wonder how fast they will be accelerating this shit on Wed? Hopefully the magnetic field this puppy generates doesn't cause the earth's poles to prematurely shift.

EDIT: CNN has a story up that is a pretty good read about this: Multibillion-dollar experiment to probe nature's mysteries - CNN.com

[Wallace Suka]

Originally Posted by Crippler

This Wednesday, the eggheads will boot this baby up and fire the first shot of protons around the 17-mile ring @ 3AM EST. It will be streamed live over the interweb. From this Wednesday forward, our understanding of physics as we know it may change forever. (All those physics courses down the tubes.) I may set my alarm to get up and watch this insane, history making event. I just don't want to miss the, "OH SHIT!" moment either. This thing could actually create small, micro blackholes.

Leave it to France and Switzerland to hand out our deaths with a mini black hole.

[Serren]

I am scared. Crippler, hold me.

[Lord Geoff]

Link for you guys. Enjoy!

[The Milk Man 09]

This mo fo can cause micro black holes, plausibly rip the space time continuum cause quantum leaps, or create matter that could destroy reality. I still don't see the problem.

I guess all we can do is hope for the best.

[Lord Geoff]

Wouldn't it be cool if it had strange effects like, all of a sudden, people stopped being dicks? Or migratory animals started going different places. Or Keezy started liking green instead.

[Peench]

That's freaking awesome. I want to kick it in a black hole.

[The Milk Man 09]

Well in fact if it does cause a black hole that does not dissipate from hawking radiation we will all in fact be kicking it in a black hole as one solid point of matter.