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One of the Coolest Places In the Universe

Posted by timothy on Monday July 21, @01:36AM
from the you'll-need-thicker-gloves dept.

phantomflanflinger writes "The Cern Laboratory, home of the Large Hadron Collider, is fast becoming one of the coolest places in the Universe. According to news.bbc.co.uk, the Large Hadron Collider is entering the final stages of being lowered to a temperature of 1.9 Kelvin (-271C; -456F) — colder than deep space. The LHC aims to re-create the conditions just after the Big Bang and continue the search for the Higgs boson."

[+] science, space, technology, lhc, physics (tagging beta)

smooth wombat writes "In what can only be considered a bizarre court case, a former nuclear safety officer and others are suing the U.S. Department of Energy, Fermilab, the National Science Foundation and CERN to stop the use of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) until its safety is reassessed. The plaintiffs cite three possible 'doomsday' scenarios which might occur if the LHC becomes operational: the creation of microscopic black holes which would grow and swallow matter, the creation of strangelets which, if they touch other matter, would convert that matter into strangelets or the creation of magnetic monopoles which could start a chain reaction and convert atoms to other forms of matter. CERN will hold a public open house meeting on April 6 with word having been spread to some researchers to be prepared to answer questions on microscopic black holes and strangelets if asked."

Firehose:One of the coolest place in the Universe by phantomflanflinger (832614)

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Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)

by Exanon (1277926) on Monday July 21, @01:38AM (#24269891)

We built the LHC to look for tits?

Reply to This
- Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by katterjohn (726348) <katterjohn@gmail.com> on Monday July 21, @01:45AM (#24269931)
  
  I can't think of a better reason for it.
  
  Reply to This
  
  Parent
- Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Max Littlemore (1001285) on Monday July 21, @02:13AM (#24270109)
  
  Hey, the title does say it's one of the coolest places in the universe.
  
  Reply to This
  
  Parent
- Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Carewolf (581105) on Monday July 21, @03:01AM (#24270357) Homepage
  
  We built the LHC to look for tits?
  What do you think a large hardon collider is for?
  
  Reply to This
  
  Parent
- Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Duncan Blackthorne (1095849) on Monday July 21, @03:11AM (#24270403)
  
  The ever-elusive Higgs Bosom can't be directly observed (because it's like staring into the sun) therefore it must be indirectly observed -- in this case, by lowering the ambient temperature in the observational environment and watching for the most common secondary sign of it's presence, a phenomenon which researchers have fondly nicknamed the "sweater-puppy effect".
  
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  Parent
Coolest place looking for the hottest bang? (Score:5, Interesting)

by Mal-2 (675116) on Monday July 21, @01:40AM (#24269905) Homepage Journal

I find it ironic or at least counter-intuitive that it's necessary to create one of the coldest spaces to look for particles that flourished when things were at their hottest. It makes sense once explained, but I doubt Joe Sixpack would stick around long enough to hear it, let alone grasp it. They just think this thing is going to make a black hole that eats the planet.
Mal-2

Reply to This
- - - Re:Coolest place looking for the hottest bang? (Score:5, Funny)
      
      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 21, @02:54AM (#24270309)
      
      One of my little sisterâ(TM)s friends told her in serious horror that âoethe scientistsâ were going to destroy the earth with this device.
      Talk about dumb! Doesn't she realize it's not just the Earth, but the entire Universe that is on the line here?!!!
      
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      Parent
Dark Knight sequel? (Score:5, Funny)

by SpeedyDX (1014595) <speedyphoenix AT gmail DOT com> on Monday July 21, @01:41AM (#24269907)

Trying to discover a hypothetical elementary particle, or trying to create Batman's next villain [youtube.com]?!

Reply to This
Warning! (Score:5, Funny)

by Slur (61510) on Monday July 21, @01:42AM (#24269917) Homepage Journal

Tongue contact with cold collider parts can result in serious injury.

Reply to This
- Re:Warning! (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 21, @02:17AM (#24270127)
  
  Do not lick collider with remaining tongue.
  
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  Parent
Ah now I see... (Score:5, Funny)

by seeker_1us (1203072) on Monday July 21, @01:48AM (#24269949)

When they create a black hole and destroy the earth, they can say "but it was such a cool experiment..."

Reply to This
- Re:Ah now I see... (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Thanshin (1188877) on Monday July 21, @01:53AM (#24269981)
  
  When they create a black hole and destroy the earth, they can say "but it was such a cool experiment..."
  Actually, they can't.
  Unless they synchronize the destruction with a space tourism trip.
  ...
  Everybody! Start checking for suspicious space flights!
  
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  Parent
  - Re:Ah now I see... (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by seeker_1us (1203072) on Monday July 21, @02:03AM (#24270035)
    
    Actually, they can't.
    Unless they synchronize the destruction with a space tourism trip.
    ...
    Everybody! Start checking for suspicious space flights!
    I heard every single one of the bastards has a towel and an electronic thumb all prepared.
    
    Reply to This
    
    Parent
Bring it on (Score:5, Funny)

by charlesbakerharris (623282) on Monday July 21, @01:49AM (#24269951) Homepage

The LHC has nothing on my mom's basement. RIGHT HERE is where it's at, baby. Cool Central.

Reply to This
Infinitely Improbable (Score:5, Funny)

by SlowMovingTarget (550823) <michael.murphree@comp u w a r e .com> on Monday July 21, @02:09AM (#24270083) Homepage

The collider is so cool you could keep a side of meat in it for a month. It is so incredibly hip it has trouble seeing over its own pelvis. Hey, you sass that hoopy large hadron collider, there's a frood that really knows where its towel's at.

Reply to This
obligatory bash.org quote (Score:5, Funny)

by naz404 (1282810) on Monday July 21, @02:55AM (#24270317) Homepage

[Guo_Si] Hey, you know what sucks?
[TheXPhial] vaccuums
[Guo_Si] Hey, you know what sucks in a metaphorical sense?
[TheXPhial] black holes
[Guo_Si] Hey, you know what just isn't cool?
[TheXPhial] lava?

Reply to This
uneconomic (Score:5, Funny)

by zmollusc (763634) on Monday July 21, @03:18AM (#24270425)

Have you seen the cost of this large hagrid colliding thing? What is the point of wasting all that tax money looking for that higgs boson that, when found, will probably have been stepped on or at least be all dirty. Wouldn't it make more sense just to write the boson off at the next inventory count and just requisition a NEW higgs boson from stores?
Okay, we need to be more environmentally aware now, and less wasteful of materials but this just confirms what people have told me about these CERN guys; they just take stuff to extremes.

Reply to This
- Re:Can someone code up a clock? (Score:5, Informative)
  
  by EXTER (1223922) on Monday July 21, @01:49AM (#24269957)
  
  LHC Countdown [lhcountdown.com]
  
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  Parent
  - Re:Can someone code up a clock? (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 21, @02:34AM (#24270199)
    
    Assuming that the LHC will destroy the Earth, this countdown is also the number of days left to lose your virginity.
    
    Reply to This
    
    Parent
- Re:I thought.... (Score:5, Informative)
  
  by Vectronic (1221470) on Monday July 21, @02:11AM (#24270099)
  
  Because its not being built by Americans. It's being built by European Organization for Nuclear Research, A.K.A. 'CERN [wikipedia.org]' (Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire). Thats why its not in the USA, and why its in France.
  
  Reply to This
  
  Parent
- - Re:Curious... (Score:5, Informative)
    
    by Cyberax (705495) on Monday July 21, @02:22AM (#24270145)
    
    No. Superconductors generate exactly ZERO ohmic heating when current passes through them.
    Not "some", but absolutely ZERO heating.
    
    Reply to This
    
    Parent
    - - Re:Curious... (Score:5, Informative)
        
        by Cyberax (705495) on Monday July 21, @03:52AM (#24270609)
        
        Nope. ANY superconductor has zero resistance. That's actually a part of definition for a superconductor.
        Even high-temperature ones (with some caveats near critical temperature and in strong magnetic fields) have zero resistance.
        
        Reply to This
        
        Parent
- - Re:Curious... (Score:5, Informative)
    
    by amazeofdeath (1102843) on Monday July 21, @03:18AM (#24270429)
    
    HTC technology is not available yet for applications like this. They are using conventional Sn3Ti (and NbTi to some extent) superconductors. I'm not sure how the Wikipedia quote is relevant here. Although the wires in LHC are made of LTS materials, the materials still are type II superconductors. The main reason to have large cooling capacity is a phenomenon called "quenching". The wires in the coils are actually made of really thin filaments of superconducting material inside a copper matrix. These filaments can (and do) go out of superconducting state because of a local problem, and at this small point there's naturally high ohmic heating. If the system can't respond quickly enough to lower the local temperature so that the superconducting state is restored, this point of normal state will start to spread at a high speed, causing more heating and boiling off the coolant quite expensively. So this is the reason why you need large cooling capacity and thermal conductivity.
    
    Reply to This
    
    Parent
- Re:Another example of useless science journalism (Score:5, Informative)
  
  by piters (604305) on Monday July 21, @02:48AM (#24270269)
  
  Indeed, getting 1.9K in a lab, or in a single NMR magnet is not a big deal. Try to do it with 1232 huge magnets, spread around 26.6 km, being some 100m underground, and using 7600 km of super-conducting "cable" (270 000 km of superconducting "strand"). This is roughly 4700 tons of material to keep at 1.9K, and 120 tons of helium being recirculated all the time through these stuff to assure 150 kW of HEAT power is dissipated. Noone ever has done a similar cryogenic installation at such scale before!
  
  Reply to This
  
  Parent
- Re:!news (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by Gromius (677157) on Monday July 21, @03:53AM (#24270611)
  
  and was that Bose-Einstein condenstate 27km long? This is news because its a huge massive object cooled down to 1.9K.
  
  Reply to This
  
  Parent

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One of the Coolest Places In the Universe 25 Comments More | Login | Reply /

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Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Higgs Bussom? (Score:5, Funny)

Coolest place looking for the hottest bang? (Score:5, Interesting)

Re:Coolest place looking for the hottest bang? (Score:5, Funny)

Dark Knight sequel? (Score:5, Funny)

Warning! (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Warning! (Score:5, Funny)

Ah now I see... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Ah now I see... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Ah now I see... (Score:5, Funny)

Bring it on (Score:5, Funny)

Infinitely Improbable (Score:5, Funny)

obligatory bash.org quote (Score:5, Funny)

uneconomic (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Can someone code up a clock? (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Can someone code up a clock? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:I thought.... (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Curious... (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Curious... (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Curious... (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Another example of useless science journalism (Score:5, Informative)

Re:!news (Score:5, Insightful)