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Short Film About CERN's Large Hadron Collider
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Wed Jul 12, 2006 05:12 PM
from the crash-test-donut dept.
from the crash-test-donut dept.
Lobster911 writes "Seedmagazine.com has posted a new film, Lords of the Ring, about CERN's Large Hadron Collider. NESTA fellow Alom Shaha takes us through the world's largest machine, as he lets the scientists who work at CERN explain the LHC and what they hope to accomplish with it. The highly-anticipated collider is set to start up in 2007, running at full speed by 2008."
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Concern Over Creating Black Holes 597 comments
Maria Williams writes to tell us about worry surrounding the impending startup of CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Some fear that the device, in creating mini black holes, could jeopardize Life As We Know It. While the tiny black holes should evaporate quickly — throwing off so-called Hawking radiation that can be detected — CERN software developer Ran Livneh reminds us that "Any physicist will tell you that there is no way to prove that generated black holes will decay." The LHC site assures us there's nothing to worry about. The flap is reminiscent of the time the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider went live. The worry then was that "negative strangelets" could gobble up the world.
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Shortest Film Ever (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shortest Film Ever (Score:3, Funny)
Low content (Score:5, Interesting)
Basic research is often hard to justify (Score:3, Insightful)
The collider will give us a better view of basic particle interactions. Will it give us anti-gravity or make our teeth whiter? Probably not, but unexpected things will likely come of it.
Re:Basic research is often hard to justify (Score:3, Informative)
Unimportant (Score:2)
Re:Unimportant (Score:5, Informative)
It was one of the other physicists (not the ones with whom Teller collaborated on the above report) who kept talking about it afterward, and allowed the story to live on, much to the annoyance of a number of Manhattan Project researchers.
Parent
Re:Low content (Score:5, Funny)
What, you mean forcing God to do something after an apaprent 2000 year absence (not counting toast apparitions)
It would be awesome if they ran that thing, and God came down from the heavens saying "Dude, I heard that... fricken loud man! I heard it all the way across the universe where I'm creating a planet consisting only of a beer volcano and a stripper factory... check it out".
ramen.
Parent
Re:Low content (Score:5, Funny)
I am interested in your God and would like to suscribe to your newsletter.
Parent
Re:Low content (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Low content (Score:2)
Re:Low content (Score:2)
Re:Low content (Score:2)
LHC@Home (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Low content (Score:3, Insightful)
The whole website is like that - it's kind of a Parade magazine for the 'hip' crowd. Nothing in depth, little that's controversial - a little science, a little nonsense, a little news, a little opinion. At the end, despite the minsicule effort involved to read it, you feel like you've accomplished something.
Sounds like Vista (Score:5, Funny)
When I read this I thought they were talking about Windows Vista.
I wrote a little poem... (Score:5, Funny)
Seven of electrons with no atoms to call home,
Nine of protons from which Hydrogen we did pry,
One ring for the Physicists on their dark thrones
In the Land of Sweden where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to collide them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Sweden where the Shadows lie.
Re:I wrote a little poem... (Score:2)
Re:I wrote a little poem... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:I wrote a little poem... (Score:3, Informative)
(I actually did look it up while composing, I just wasn't thinking.)
Re:I wrote a little poem... (Score:3, Funny)
Alternative poem (Score:4, Funny)
Seven for the cyclotrons in their shields of stone,
Nine for superconducting supercolliders doomed to die,
One for the CERN Lord in his quark Hadron
In the Alps of Switzerland where the gluons lie.
One Ring to hew them all, One Ring to grind them
One Ring to smash them all and in the black holes slime them
In the Alps of Switzerland where the gluons lie.
Parent
Heavy or slow (Score:4, Funny)
The highly-anticipated collider is set to start up in 2007, running at full speed by 2008."
It's going to take a year to get those particles up to full speed? Heavy.
A comment prediction, if I may. (Score:4, Funny)
Religious fundamentalists complaining that we do not need to spend billions of dollars figuring out what happened at the so-called “Big Bang” (God created the universe, afterall) and that those funds would be better spent on more ambitious projects [outsidethebeltway.com] that would help save America from immorality and godlessness.
Re:A comment prediction, if I may. (Score:2)
God doesn't seem to mind scientists trying to figure out how He did it. If He did object to His atoms being smashed, He'd have made them unbreakable. As it is, it appears they are pretty tough little buggers. I know, since I helped build what is still the most powerful electron accelerator. This new collider will however still be far short of the energies God imparts to cosmic rays. The beam current of cosmi
Re:A comment prediction, if I may. (Score:4, Insightful)
Your dignity, and the sense of self required to make the most of the brief life our species enjoys.
A little time hanging out with nice people who have high morals?
I don't think "morals" means what you think it means. Your "morals" are simply your "values." Some people's value systems include the wonderfulness of molesting children, or seriously embracing the sacrificing of chickens to persuade your dead ancestors to alter the weather for your wedding reception. "High" morals doesn't mean anything. You have to identify which morals, and speak to the underlying system of thought - or in the case of religion, childish fantasy - upon which the world view in question, and thus the system of values (morals) that a person develops (or simply takes out of a story book).
people who believe in a hard days' work, who are willing to feed themselves and raise their children with a good education and proper values
The people I know that most fit this description are the least religious. Conversely, the more religious ones tend to keep talking in terms of their food being provided by the mystical personality they pray to before dinner, and indicate that when the going gets tough, it's not hard work or personal accountability, but Jesus(tm) that's actually responsible for everything that happens. What a cheap cop-out.
laying on the couch living off government welfare, eating cheesy poofs bought with government food stamps
Well, at least we can see that you don't belong to one of those charitable churches that does things like collect canned food for people, or shelter lazy homeless women who are running from their abusive husbands, etc. I mean, taking that sort of handout is a sure sign of moral weakness, so any church that would dole out such support is surely a major player in Satan's campaign to make people morally weak. No doubt.
Good luck in hell
Heh! Joke's on you. There isn't one, other than that which you make for yourself while you (meaning, your functioning brain, which pretty much requires you to be alive in order to do things like fire the synapses that allow you to actually be yourself) are actually alive. And since you're so scared of actually living your real life, in the face of a sure eventual death, you're focused on an imaginary afterlife that doesn't exist... and I'd call all of that wasted time and fretting to be a current, living hell that you personally occupy. And when you die, it will end - but you'll never get back the time you spent obsessing over such absurdities as original sin and whether you've properly entertained, through treacly hymns and magic hand-waving, a cruel and capricious god that allows priests to bugger altar boys and beautiful, innocent children to burn alive in crashed church vans or whither away from blood cancer no matter how much everyone prays they won't. Hell's right here, bub, if that's all you can think about... but those of us who don't attach a personality to the laws of physics get to produce our own meaning in life, and live our actual lives undistracted by fairy tales we should have grown out of when we were five years old.
Parent
Wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
If this is a troll, masterfully executed and I salute you.
If not, then you have some fairly bizarre notions. I think it is not, so allow me to make some comments.
Certainly the desired intent.
Alright, 80% of the world population is theistic. Seems right. But in addition to many divisions of belief, what has been believed has changed for all recorded human history. Religion that has fallen out of fashion is regarded today as silly nonsense. We do not revile people because they reject Zeus or do not call pharaoh a god. We have evolved improved sensibilities about the natural world and society. It may take a thousand years, but we will one day laugh at all the religions of today the same way we now laugh at river gods and fire spirits.
Perhaps a lifetime. Instead of engaging myself with the task of improving the human race, I have wasted it chasing after an invisible man in the sky. One might as well spend a life believing in Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy.
I am an atheist [infidels.org] and I too have morals. I know I should not commit violence against people because I would not want others to commit violence against me. I know I should not steal or cheat for the same reason. It is purely logical for me to follow certain principles and adhere to morals, without some supernatural entity threatening me with punishment. It is logical because I have a survival instinct which makes me avoid injury. Also, human beings are social creatures since society increases our chances of survival. Harming others harms the group, thus diminishing our prosperity. In my opinion, these are much better reasons to live morally than threats of eternal fire and brimstone. Morals do not come from religion and they never have. Furthermore, not all religious people have “high morals,” such as those whom use their religion to write moral blank checks which they cash to commit acts of rape [legalaffairs.org] and cold-blooded murder [salon.com].
But do you not see that critism is the only way to progress! I “complain” because I care. I see faults and I want to understand those faults such that they can be corrected. That is akin to the scientific method which seeks to disprove claims so that only those which are true become establish facts. And then they are questioned again and again. Critism is the crucible of knowledge and it is an ever-tempering force. If we resort to patting each other on the back, proclaiming to one another of how righteous and great we are, we will go nowhere.
Whew. Where to begin. Thank you for your concern, but I am well-employed. I prefer natural food to cheesy poofs, but I must admit I enjoy a fine glass of wine and even, dare I mention, a nice dry, gin martini from time to time. Such are lifes little pleasures. I personally have had no abortions given that I am a male, ho
Parent
Re:Who killed the supercollider? (Score:4, Insightful)
Taking your claim at face value, I would respond by stating that he was or they were fools for doing so. Instead, they ought to have revoked tax exempt status for religious organizations (which contribute nothing to human progress and have not done so for thousands of years) and used that revenue to fund science.
Thank you for pointing this out so we can remind ourselves that partisan politics are silly and politicians are deeply fallible. And for that very reason, each and every person ought to be concerned about the doings of their government so that they become educated about and engaged in its proper function.
Parent
OK, jokes are fine, but . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
I read on a theoretical physics blog (yes, there are such things) that there is a fear that this LHC might actually generate black holes.
link [columbia.edu]
Now that could make things very interesting, for a short time. .
Re:OK, jokes are fine, but . . . (Score:5, Informative)
this machine will only reproduce these collisions in very controlled conditions, letting us learn from them.
btw, this is not a concern i've ever heard an actual physicist raise. all theories of micro black holes predict they burn themselves out as fast as they are created, as there is a critical mass needed for self-sustainment. i have doubts regarding the reliability of your "science" blog.
Parent
Re:OK, jokes are fine, but . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
You'd need a nano-blackhole with the mass of everest or so for it not to decay in seconds, iirc. 2 protons don't cut it buddy.
Parent
NASTA Fellow (Score:4, Funny)
a little hasty (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:a little hasty (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting professional history... (Score:4, Interesting)
Large Hadron (Score:2, Funny)
-Peter
Lest we forget ... (Score:4, Interesting)
America's Discarded Superconducting Supercollider: [damninteresting.com]
Anyone know what the total cost will be? The U.S. version was supposed to top $US 8 billion, and I saw something about a U.S. government grant of $US 500 million in the late 90s. Curious to know if there were lessons learned and if the approach wound up making more fiscal sense.
&laz;
Its not the ring that are cool (Score:2)
Chirst, I hope he's not in charge... (Score:3, Funny)
Apparently they travel 11,000 times a second around the 27km, reaching 0.999997828 the speed of light.
LHC Facts [web.cern.ch]
Re:Sense of humour failure (Score:5, Funny)
Quirky? That's strange. If only you'd written it as "quarky", it would have been a truly beautiful and charming joke.
Parent
Re:Sense of humour failure (Score:3, Funny)
it would have been a truly beautiful and charming joke
Well, that post up there was a strange one. Those of us down here salute you.
Re:Sense of humour failure (Score:2)
>
>Well, that post up there was a strange one. Those of us down here salute you.
That's a strong response, I'd say it's on top. This one is weak by comparison. It wouldn't hit the bottom end of a barn. (The broad sides of the barn of course, having been open to permit the the large rod to pass through it. Honest honey, it's bigger when it's not moving!)
Re:Sense of humour failure (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Impressive (Score:5, Funny)
"I've wanted to do the two-slit experiment for years, but my wife won't let me!"
To which the reply was:
"Good luck with that. Try explaining to her afterwards that you couldn't tell which slit you came through. You'll be sleeping next to the particle collider for a month."
Don't know where this came from though; it's not original to me...
Parent
Re:Impressive (Score:3, Funny)
If all you're colliding with is other hardons, then I don't think it's the ladies you're impressing...
I did!! (Score:2)
Re:Wouldn't it be interesting... (Score:2)
Re:Wouldn't it be interesting... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Can't play it (Score:2)
Nuff said
Re:Titor? (Score:3)
I normally treat conspiracy theory stuff with a bit of disdain, but having read about John Titor and his predictions back in 2003 when the US invaded Iraq, I began to wonder. Like most, I was shocked when the World Trade Center attacks happened. Yet less than two years later, any sympathy I had for the US had vanished when I began to see what the US government was heading towards - a totalitarian police state. Readers of Orwell would not fail to notice the similarities.
I