Another Way the LHC Could Self-Destruct 367
KentuckyFC writes "Just when you thought it was safe to switch on the LHC (though it won't be for a while yet), another nightmare scenario has emerged that some critics worry could cause the particle accelerator to explode. The culprit this time is not an Earth-swallowing black hole but a 'Bose supernova' in the accelerator's superfluid helium bath. Physicists have been playing with Bose Einstein Condensate (BECs) for over 10 years now. But in 2001, one group discovered that placing them in a powerful magnetic field could cause the attractive forces between atoms to become repulsive. That caused their BEC to explode in a Bose supernova — which they called a 'Bosenova,' a name that fortunately did not catch on. This was little more than a curiosity when only a microscopic blob of cold matter was involved. But superfluid liquid helium is also BEC. And physicists have suddenly remembered that the LHC is swimming in 700,000 liters of the stuff while being zapped by some of the most powerful magnetic fields on the planet. So is the LHC a Bose supernova waiting to go off? Not according to the CERN theory division, which has published its calculations that show the LHC is safe (abstract). They also point out that no other superfluid helium handling facility has mysteriously blown itself to pieces."
let me assure you... (Score:5, Funny)
This is easy (Score:5, Funny)
Does this mean we can just blame it on the Bosenova [wikipedia.org]?
Blame.. (Score:1, Funny)
Blame it on the Bosenova.
Re:let me assure you... (Score:5, Funny)
You had me going there for a moment, but I just checked the webcams and everything seems fine:
http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html [cyriak.co.uk]
LHC Joke of the Day! (Score:5, Funny)
A: Nothing
Re:let me assure you... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:More Cassandra warnings... (Score:5, Funny)
The problem is that the LHC has caused the production of strange moron particles, which seem to bump into normal people and turn them into more strange morons. The collective outgassing of stupidity causes a supernova brain implosion.
Re:Phase change (Score:5, Funny)
Or it could split the planet wide open if the uninformed hyperbole gets to hot and detonates.
I'm from a small town (Score:5, Funny)
and we used to blow stuff up for fun when I was a kid. Now I work in an MRI research lab.
This sounds like something I need to try tomorrow.
I was worried, but am ok now (Score:1, Funny)
We evaluate speculation about the possibility of a dangerous release of energy within the liquid Helium of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) cryogenic system due to the occurrence of a "Bose-Nova". Bose-Novae are radial bursts of rapidly moving atoms which can occur when a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) undergoes a collapse due the interatomic potential being deliberately made attractive using a magnetic field close to the Feshbach resonance. Liquid 4He has a monatomic structure with s-wave electrons, zero nuclear spin, no hyperfine splitting, and as a consequence no Feshbach resonance which would allow one to change its normally repulsive interactions to be attractive. Because of this, a Bose-Nova style collapse of 4He is impossible. Additional speculations concerning cold fusion during these events are easily dismissed using the usual arguments about the Coulomb barrier at low temperatures, and are not needed to explain the Bose-Einstein condensate Bose-Nova phenomenon. We conclude that that there is no physics whatsoever which suggests that Helium could undergo any kind of unforeseen catastrophic explosion.
Well, I am glad that is made clear.
Re:let me assure you... (Score:5, Funny)
While the LHC might be perfectly safe, the LHC I'm building in my basement will be extremely volatile.
Dubbed the Large Hatred Collider, its function is to see what happens when enraged 'haters' are collided at speed.
First into the test chamber are a Daily Mail [google.com] reader (who is also a confirmed supporter of the BNP [wikipedia.org]) and an enraged Digg user, who's just discovered that not everybody likes Macintosh compters as much as he does.
It is expected that the two will cancel each other out when they collide. What is unknown is how much energy will be released when this happens. Does anyone on Slashdot have an equation for this?
Re:That would be bad (Score:3, Funny)
Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instanteously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Another way the LHC could self destruct (Score:2, Funny)
If perchance, the beams were improperly calibrated and they missed the normal intercept point and ended up crossing at another point in the collider.
Crossing the streams, that would be bad.
Re:That would be bad (Score:5, Funny)
Resonance Cascade? (Score:2, Funny)
Another, albeit less likely way (Score:1, Funny)
It could go on national TV and make ludicrous claims about it's foreign policy experience and parrot republican campaign points.
Re:the monkey's are afraid (Score:5, Funny)
Moonwatcher said to ask you to please quite disparaging semi-simian anthropoids. After all, HE's not frightened, and he's got a big black (or clear, if you prefer the book) slab to back him up.
Re:Law of conservation of energy (Score:3, Funny)
but I'd like to point out that if the LHC were to explode in a fireball whose energy exceeded the energy we put into it, it'd be a good thing for science
Yes, ultimately the discovery would mean cheap energy for any remaining continents.
Re:Law of conservation of energy (Score:5, Funny)
Trust Top Geeks (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure glad there's more certainty in economic and finance theory than physics; otherwise banks would be ....... we're fucked
Re:This is easy (Score:5, Funny)
BLAME IT ON THE BOSENOVA
Blame it on the Bosenova,
That blew up so well.
Blame it in the Bosenova,
That we're in hell.
Super-cooled He and big magnets
Turned attractive forces
Right around.
Blame it on the Bosenova,
That CERN went boom!
Blame it on the Bosenova,
That blew up so well.
Blame it in the Bosenova,
That we're in hell.
How we ended up as just a pile of ash,
When the Large Hadron Collider
Made a flash.
Blame it on the Bosenova
Pheno-omenon.
(to the tune of... well, that should be obvious!)
Re:More Cassandra warnings... (Score:5, Funny)
But it DID destroy the planet. . . (Score:5, Funny)
It went on line and the economy crashed.
Coincidence? I think not. Clearly it takes unbalanced chaotic systems and collapses them into the state most likely to actualize. The cloud of dreams which has been our economy since Reagan began inflating it with voodoo has been begging to collapse for some time. Thank-you Higgs Boson! Clearly, the LHC is a kind of Probability Drive.
I look forward to seeing what will happen next when they get it up and running again. If they run it in reverse, maybe it will turn missiles into potted plants and whales.
-FL
Re:That would be bad (Score:3, Funny)
They should have seen this one coming, what usually follow a large hardon collision? All this talk about tunnels and holes don't help either.
Yeah, right. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Phase change (Score:5, Funny)
And now we finally know how the ancient Atlantians created the moon and killed off the dinosaurs all at once.
Re:FUD (Score:2, Funny)
Oh noes! Helium is fusing inside the Sun. Run!
Re:That would be bad (Score:5, Funny)
Depends which side you ask.
None, because after careful analisis we've determined it won't happen
-Science
An explosion that would likely cause the END OF THE UNIVERSE AND KILL GOD! (add video clip of a van exploding)
-Fox News (story at 11)
Re:the monkey's are afraid (Score:3, Funny)
But you're wrong. We're recreating big band like conditions.
Boogie woogie daddy, 8 branes to D bar.
One wrong Bosenova and there ain't no there where you are.
You may think it strange, but it's got its own charm.
The galaxy would still swing with one less arm.
Wail on that sassy brass, Satchmo.
Play it cool right down to 0 K.
Let's make everything one big Quantum Event.
Who needs this planet anyway?
Sure! Okay! Yeah right! (Score:4, Funny)
The kind who actually understand science?
Man... are you in for a surprise. Sorry, but we're just the general public, who can't be bothered to learn how our garbage disposal really works. Too gross.
Re:let me assure you... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:let me assure you... (Score:5, Funny)
e=mc^2
Where e = energy, m = the marketing power of Apple Corp. and c = the certainty of Apple fanboys exploding in a fiery rage whenever their platform choice is called into question.
In short- a hell of a lot.
Car Analogy? (Score:1, Funny)