EU Scientists Working On Laser To Rip a Hole In Spacetime 575
astroengine writes "Those pesky physicists are at it again; they want to build a laser so powerful that it will literally rip spacetime apart. Why? To prove the existence of virtual particles in the quantum vacuum, potentially unravel extra dimensions and possibly find the root of dark matter. The $1.6 billion Extreme Light Infrastructure Ultra-High Field Facility (known as ELI) will be built somewhere in Europe by the end of the decade and physicists are hoping the ten high-powered lasers — delivering 200 petawatts of power at a target for less than a trillionth of a second — will turn up some surprises about the very fabric of the Universe."
Results how? (Score:2, Insightful)
If spacetime is ripped apart, where and when will any observations of any phenomena they are studying occur?
Extreme "light"... (Score:2, Insightful)
Except for the rip a hole in spacetime part... (Score:3, Insightful)
Another terrible headline, but the article is partly to blame. This isn't about ripping a hole in space time, it's just about putting energy in the vacuum so a bunch of virtual particles become real particles.
P.S. THE DEVICE WILL GO ONLINE IN 2012 AND END THE WORLD!!! AREN'T I CLEVER? PULL MY FINGER!!
Fuhck yeah! (Score:4, Insightful)
$1.6 billion is a bargain to have space and time ripped up. The money won't be missed anyway.
Re:Results how? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm just hoping that the results of this experiment will provide once and for all, a definitive answer to the ages old question of:
If three astronauts are flying over the Gobi Desert in a canoe, and they crash land, how many pancakes does it take to shingle a doghouse?"
I've only been able to narrow it down to two possible answers:
Three, because ice cream has no bones.
or
Nine, because watermelons can't use night vision goggles.
And even then, I am only about 70% sure the answer is one of those. This experiment with the great big lasers could reveal a completely different answer.
Slashdot: Anti-science for ignorant pseudo-nerds (Score:5, Insightful)
First the shear amount of dumb laser jokes is astounding. It seems very few people bothered to read any of the other posts or bothered to consider that maybe someone else on Shashdot had ever seen Austin Powers. Or Star Trek. Or your favorite SF series here. Real herd behavior in action.
Next, the number of people whining about 200 PETAWATTS!!!!!! was really sad. Are the posters hear actually that ignorant about the concept of instantaneous power values and pulsed power systems? I am surprised by this level of technical ignorance.
Also, does anyone seriously think that a project of this size would be approved without an air tight argument that the experiment will operate in a domain where there are likely to be measurable results? Is it even vaguely possible that physicists picked "200 petawatts of power at a target for less than a trillionth of a second " by guessing? They have a well reasoned case to do the experiment, and part of this is a way to measure the results. But many of the post deride the practicality of the experiment, and even make specific statements that it won't work and that key measurement components are nonexistent. All based around a badly written publicity piece and their extensive personal knowledge of ultra high powered lasers and the mathematics of virtual particle production in the ground state of the space-time vacuum.
The worst and most puzzling part is the shear amount of hostility shown towards science. Assuming that it pork spending, saying it useless, that it can't show anything interesting, that the resources would be better spent somewhere else. All without a shred of logic or reference to any external source. This is the kind of anti-intellectual crap I expect from Fox News, not Slashdot readers. All I see here is a few true nerds surrounded by a bunch of fakes who either express their ignorance directly or try and hide it by making a ridiculous hostile comments.
Re:Ok. That's one research field going too fast. (Score:2, Insightful)
i wouldnt want to meet those conditions before we know that we actually know what we are doing.
They know what they are doing and the headline and summary are sensionalist bullshit with the intention to cause strong reactions like yours.
If you can't handle the way headlines are written then please stop reading them or at least stop comment on them.
Re:Slashdot: Anti-science for ignorant pseudo-nerd (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Death Star (Score:4, Insightful)
That's point. While America fight a war on terrorists, the rest of the world are doing criminal investigations on organized crime and terrorist groups. While American fight obesity, the rest of the world seeks solutions to a healthier lifestyle to reduce obesity. While American fight a war on drugs, the rest of the world arrest criminals and put them to trial.
This concept of "fighting wars" on everything is very American (not that wars are not fought somewhere else by other groups, don't get me wrong). This concept is also very hyped by the American medias.
Of course, you are partly right, once those "wars" go beyond the American borders, the become "world wars", although it would be pretty naive to compare those modern "wars" with what was previously called "world word".
There have been investigations and actions taken against terrorist groups and organization long before America somehow declared war on terrorism on 09/12 some 10 years ago.