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Large Hadron Collider initiated
Jason M. Wallace
Issue date: 9/16/08 Section: Opinion
For those of you who do not know, there is apparently a massive particle accelerator 300 feet below Meyrin, Switzerland that has the potential to open many doors in the department of physics, and/or to create micro black holes that can grow to doomsday proportions.
The circular, 17-mile long Large Hadron Collider at CERN laboratories took 13 years to build and was first used on Sept. 10, 2008. Now, as the world's largest particle accelerator, many baffling questions from physicists can possibly be answered. The machine works as follows: two protons will travel opposite of each other around the 17-mile tube being controlled by over 1,600 conducting magnets. In six to eight weeks, the protons will collide at unbelievably high speeds and six detectors will register the results.
The six detectors, named ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb, TOTEM and LHCf, are used to research the collision. The detectors will tackle a range of questions from how the mass originated, to what is the nature of dark matter. It is said that the collision will possibly recreate the actions of the Big Bang theory but on a much smaller scale.
Issues over the possible creation of micro black holes have raised brows in both corners of the argument. Professor Otto Rössler at the University of Tübingen says that if a black hole is formed, then it could grow exponentially. However, back in June, the Large Hadron Collider was deemed safe by governing council of CERN.
Several different countries, including the United States, which contributed $531 million, funded the project. The total cost of the machine was $8 billion.
In light of this massive feat by physicists around the world, the biggest question is this: will any of this expensive and complex scientific machinery serve any valuable use in the practical world? I think that it is wonderful that human beings can create machines like the Large Hadron Collider to solve some of the mysteries of the universe, but unless the machine can give some answers to fix the world energy crisis then the project should be left up to independent groups to fund. I've never understood why governments, especially ours, insist on spending massive amounts of money in scientific projects, like NASA, that will have no real practical use. Why do we bother with trying to find out how the universe started or trying to colonize Mars when what really matters is the condition of the decaying planet we live on now?
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
The circular, 17-mile long Large Hadron Collider at CERN laboratories took 13 years to build and was first used on Sept. 10, 2008. Now, as the world's largest particle accelerator, many baffling questions from physicists can possibly be answered. The machine works as follows: two protons will travel opposite of each other around the 17-mile tube being controlled by over 1,600 conducting magnets. In six to eight weeks, the protons will collide at unbelievably high speeds and six detectors will register the results.
The six detectors, named ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb, TOTEM and LHCf, are used to research the collision. The detectors will tackle a range of questions from how the mass originated, to what is the nature of dark matter. It is said that the collision will possibly recreate the actions of the Big Bang theory but on a much smaller scale.
Issues over the possible creation of micro black holes have raised brows in both corners of the argument. Professor Otto Rössler at the University of Tübingen says that if a black hole is formed, then it could grow exponentially. However, back in June, the Large Hadron Collider was deemed safe by governing council of CERN.
Several different countries, including the United States, which contributed $531 million, funded the project. The total cost of the machine was $8 billion.
In light of this massive feat by physicists around the world, the biggest question is this: will any of this expensive and complex scientific machinery serve any valuable use in the practical world? I think that it is wonderful that human beings can create machines like the Large Hadron Collider to solve some of the mysteries of the universe, but unless the machine can give some answers to fix the world energy crisis then the project should be left up to independent groups to fund. I've never understood why governments, especially ours, insist on spending massive amounts of money in scientific projects, like NASA, that will have no real practical use. Why do we bother with trying to find out how the universe started or trying to colonize Mars when what really matters is the condition of the decaying planet we live on now?
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Kaitlyn
posted 9/16/08 @ 11:55 AM EST
So you have a problem with our government contributing $531 million dollars for a science tool that could not only help us to better understand how we all got here, but can also potentially answer questions that we don't know we have yet, but have no problem with the same government spending approximately $10 BILLION a month on the Iraq war? The entire cost of the Hadron Collider, which was spent over the 13 years in which the Collider was built, is less than what we spend in 30 days on a stupid war. (Continued…)
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