One of the most complicated construction projects ever attempted reached a major milestone today. The final large detector element for the ATLAS instrument was lowered into the Large Hadron Collider. And this baby's big. Weighing in at 100 tonnes. When the collider finally comes online, this instrument will measure the cascade of particles generated in [...]

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Ooooo.... can't wait! My God, it's full of stars!

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I don't believe in mathematics. Albert Einstein

Biologically speaking, if something bites you it's more likely to be female. Desmond Morris.

Quantum analysis is scientific dithering

Professor Frink: My observations n'hey, n'hey, show the universe could be a torus Weh, uh, or toriod it may like the typewriters and bananas and the monkeys with big teeth the biting the screaming Mm-hai!

Homer: mmmmm... doughnuts!

Wow. When I first heard about the LHC, I thought "Can we know that yet?"

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Kai's home computer is broken and her posting may be eratic for a while - ToSeek
"The only way to explore the universe is to go and look." - Brian Cox
Well, the best way to find out is to go there and, find out. - Raven's Cry
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

I read the article and found some disturbing comments from readers about this machine being destructive, maybe even endangering lives in France or possibly the whole world. I don't know much about the consequences or predictions of colliding particles at an extremely accelerated velocity, but is there any truth to this being a danger? I would like to think that these scientists are smart enough to not endanger our planet, but what is the worst case scenario here?

I also read somewhere that the collisions of these accelerated particles could "tear an opening in the fabric of space time, thereby allowing time travelers from the future to enter our present realm". That seems less plausible and doesn't really concern me such as my first question does. Figure I just mention it to see if others heard about this also.

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Show me the money!
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In the worst case scenario they create a sort of big bang

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All about space related topics: http://www.spacestart.eu

In the worst case scenario it doesn't work!
The legacy of Chernobyl or the consequences of the Manhattan Project are far worse things to worry about - but people don't - well, not so much now anyway.

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I don't believe in mathematics. Albert Einstein

Biologically speaking, if something bites you it's more likely to be female. Desmond Morris.

Quantum analysis is scientific dithering

Professor Frink: My observations n'hey, n'hey, show the universe could be a torus Weh, uh, or toriod it may like the typewriters and bananas and the monkeys with big teeth the biting the screaming Mm-hai!

Homer: mmmmm... doughnuts!

No. Every day, particles slam into the upper atmosphere at energies 100's of millions of times more energetic than we can make in a collider.

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Bill Slugg
Albany, GA

Billslugg. True, and we don't monitor them too much, though we look for UHEC in some air shower arrays. So far no sign of a Higg's boson. Early tests of the LHC detectors have used algorithms searching cosmic ray secondaries to see if the mechanics are working out OK. So far, so good. Looking forward to the first runs. pete

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A third rate theory forbids
A second rate theory explains after the fact
A first rate theory predicts...A. Lomonosov

bump.

Does anyone know when the LHC is expected to run at full power?

Pitty we haven't the technology to hang secondary detectors in the magnetosphere and at he ozone boundry.

Kind regards
Matt

Now tell me again, why are they lowering the Millenium Falcon into the LHC?

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"Probably the last sound heard before the universe folded up like a paper hat would be someone saying 'What happens if I do this?'"

"Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring. Nobody listens to you."

<Cheerleader>
L!
H!
C!
Woopeee!
<Cheerleader>

__________________
Kai's home computer is broken and her posting may be eratic for a while - ToSeek
"The only way to explore the universe is to go and look." - Brian Cox
Well, the best way to find out is to go there and, find out. - Raven's Cry
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx