The LHC Has Created a Mini Big Bang!

[Elomin Sha]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11711228

They are on their way, although this was done with lead ions and not protons.

[GreigKM]

Freakin'. Awesome.

[Metcarfre]

Science!

[Myrph]

Excellent!

How long until someone misconstrues this though...

[Metcarfre]

"Scientists create miniature universe, play God, for gay buttsex"

More at 11.

[goat]

So cool.

"Scientists create miniature universe, play God, for gay buttsex"

More at 11.

I lawl'd.

[Taisaku86]

Someone wanna explain the scientific merit?
Is it to prove string theory, the whole multiverse thing?
Cause it would rock if there were alternate universes for every possible reality.
Think about it. It would mean there's no such thing as "fiction" cause anything we can think of is reality, somewhere.

[Myrph]

One of the main scientific merits of this particular experiment is to develop understanding of the nuclear strong force, though to be honest in most cases its the discoveries that you aren't expecting that are bigger than the ones you're looking for.

[Taisaku86]

What exactly is this nuclear strong force?
I'm an engish major, science is all magic to me :S

[Metcarfre]

The strong nuclear force is the release of energy when a neutron is destroyed in a nuclear reaction. E=mc^2 and all that business.

The weak nuclear force is the energy released when a radioactive element decays.

[Taisaku86]

I see.
So I suppose the practical application of this would be to harness this for fuel or something?

[Elomin Sha]

And to in some way put creationists to sleep. And you know one or two scientists have a betting pool going on whether they will destroy the planet or not.


Edit: And I just saw this on the Escapist, props to this guy for joining in on the fun
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/ ... For-Action

[Taisaku86]

They could cart out all the evidence in the world, creationists will most likely keep on believing what they believe.
Or somehow modify their beliefs to encorporate the new information.
Personally, I say more power to 'em. I personally don't agree with their beliefs (though I do believe in the big G) but they're allowed.
The fuel source thing is interesting. Though I've seen enough sci-fi movies to know someone's probably thinking up ways to use this as a weapon....

[gcninja]

What we need to do is put somebody who volunteers or is on death row and place them IN the LHC at the place where they think it'll collide (not the lead ions, but real photons) and see what happens with a big bang inside the human body

[Taisaku86]

I think I know what'll happen. And they'll need a mop afterwards....

That or the guy'll get superpowers, who knows.

[gcninja]

See those were my guesses as the lead ion was "millions of times hotter than the sun" so ya.. vaporization, no need for a mop!

[Metcarfre]

I know what happens when *I* have a "big bang" inside a human body.

HEY-O!

[gcninja]

You mean child support or the sudden urge to go buy vodka and some hangers?

[empath]

... Though I've seen enough sci-fi movies to know someone's probably thinking up ways to use this as a weapon....

Seriously; people have been thinking up ways to use EVERYTHING they come across as a weapon since The Rock™ and The Stick™ - if they can't eat it and can't fuck it and can't kill it, they'll try to USE it to attain one of those previous goals with something else (thus the invention of weapons, eating utensils, and...well, dildos)

[Dutch guy]

What we need to do is put somebody who volunteers or is on death row and place them IN the LHC at the place where they think it'll collide (not the lead ions, but real photons) and see what happens with a big bang inside the human body

Since there is so much empty space inside the human body (from a protons viewpoint), probably not a heck of a lot. Most particles will just fly straight through.

[Alja-Markir]

Omen keeps bugging me about this, so I'm going to humor him and deliver his message. "Awakening the giant is a perplexion." What that has to do with particle acceleration, hell if I know, but he assures me it is relevant.

At least he's gotten better with his grammar. These days he seems to enjoy Tolkien, although "enjoy" is probably the wrong word for it.

~Alja~

[Lord Chrusher]

The strong nuclear force is the release of energy when a neutron is destroyed in a nuclear reaction. E=mc^2 and all that business.

The weak nuclear force is the energy released when a radioactive element decays.

Not quite.

The strong nuclear force binds quarks together into protons and neutrons as well as binding protons and neutrons together in nuclei.

The weak nuclear force is responsible for some nuclear processes such as the decay of neutrons into protons (plus an electron and an electron antineutrino). This happens in beta decay.

I would be happy to answer any questions about particle physics.

[Metcarfre]

What's a good book for a layman to understand modern particle physics?

String theory; totally plausible or batshit loco?

[Alja-Markir]

~Alja~

[GreigKM]

String theory is only plausible in a dimensional system such as the one we have envisioned, yet we have envisioned it, without data, to support string theory. Also, yes, string theory wouldn't have any implications, yet, but you never know what will come in the future of science.