The end of the world as we know it?

It’s almost time for CERN to turn on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). On the 10th of Sept. 2008 they will shoot the first beam the whole way around this 27km ring. hell they won’t even be colliding anything when they first get the beast up and running!
The pseudo science, fringe dwellers and panic merchants have created quite a lot of hype about how this could mean the end of the world, or indeed the universe. Do you really believe that insignificant little man, on this insignificant little blue green planet out here in some backwater of the milky way can build a machine capable of destroying the universe?

LHC Open day 2008

LHC Open day 2008

Last night I watched a very interesting interview with Prof. Brian Cox on the ABC show Enough Rope. He equated the energy of a collision with that of a mosquito flying into your face. the trick is of course that this energy is being concentrated in such a tiny tiny space, in such an infinitesimal fraction of a second. Amazing things could possibly happen in that fraction of a second. Scientists postulate that they may be able to recreate conditions like those a billionth of a second after the Big Bang. Perhaps even micro Black Holes, Strangelets, or worm holes to other dimensions. But if we do see such phenomena, it will be on a very small scale, and it’s interaction with Earth will be negligible or virtually non-existant. All safely contained with systems that have been in planning and construction for over 20 years.

So what are the potential risks of the LHC? Well a Wikipedia article details some of the activities of the LHC, and another looks at the safety of the LHC. CERN themselves address the safety of the LHC. Really folks, there’s nothing to worry about, we’ve got more chance of blowing ourselves up with nuclear weapons than destroying the world with a micro Black Hole.

I myself am looking forward to the scientific discoveries that could be made from this ambitious experiment (or ongoing series of experiments). I’ll be watching live webcasts from CERN and leaving my brown paper bags for my groceries.