It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel...

[S1ur]

only a wee bit nervous.

So the Large Hadron Collider gets switched on in 9 days....

Science aim to recreate the conditions of the big bang.

Now come on, nothing can go wrong with that plan right?

Anyone worried?

Disclaimer: don't be scared, dp says its all been risk assessed and there is No Need to Panic. And he is a scientist so he is mad knows.

[MerlinsBeard]

CERN is real??

there is a LHC?????

I thought Dan Brown had made it up

[bobsyouruncle]

oh good, just one beam, I can go back to stressing about bouncy castles and party food etc, phew...

[Ripeberry]

Doing the Large Hadron rap!

[Ripeberry]

The only thing they are doing on September 10th is switching it on and sending one beam ALL the way round the circuit.
They seem to have been taking months just to get the whole thing to cool down until it's COLDER than space Brrrr!

[bobsyouruncle]

So can I clarify, it's not happening on September 10th? Its just that's ds's birthday and I'm planning a party fgs.

[Ripeberry]

Actually, the collisions won't happen until 21st October 2008, so we can all breathe easy in September.
Might even manage to squeeze in an indian summer! Lol.

[arfishy]

Ooooh. A really good geek thread.



The first ever website created and CERN is now working on the Internet's successor 'GRID'.

And the LHC is in a huge 27km long circular tunnel underneath CERN with cavernous underground experiment chambers.

I love mysterious underground stuff, like hidden wartime cabinet rooms and the secret railway station underneath New York.

[policywonk]

Very impressed by Ani and slur. In the way that only a history grad can be. I do find the CERN stuff exciting, but just in the way that I find all massive great big things exciting (ships, tall buildings, etc etc).

[S1ur]

Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 at CERN

[S1ur]

[S1ur]

And by the way those 'bunch of boys' brought you the internet so doff your cap

[S1ur]

Did you not listen to the rap?



Okay, my understanding of quantum physics is a line over there in the distance, but I am trying.

The key is that the universe is odd. Matter and energy are related, they are interchangeable, like one can become the other and back again.

The Higgs boson is what governs matter being matter. Matter is like energy condensed and Higgs as something to do with that.

Right got that? Cos I don't think I do really. But let's keep going.

In understanding the universe and why it behaves in the way it does, why particles do what they do and so on. You can imagine it like a jigsaw being worked on. And lots of pieces are understood and fall into place, matter has antimatter and things are tested and it all fits. But there is a gap in the jigsaw. Its like you know its shape and can guess what it looks like how it'll fit, but you can't see it. The higg's boson particles are that.

They are inferred and the LHC might be able to detect them, actually 'see' them. If it can then it vindicates the standard model of understanding. Which in turn explains how matter exists as matter and not energy.

I think.

Maybe.

But FFS particle physics is soo hard and I haven't even attempted to think about the different particle families because my head hurts.

Lookit Understanding the way things work is good and useful. We understood electrons and electricty and wayhey we were off! I don't know how the experiment will help in the long term but I think it will.

[PinkTulips]

if it destroys the universe it's not like we'll be around to whinge.

worreis me less than selafield does tbh.

just think of the possibilities, the science it could prove and disprove and the discoveries that could result.

[S1ur]

Rofl absolutey farking fantastic!

..the things that they discover will rock you in the head

[Habbibu]

Anifrangipani!!! That is one of The Coolest Things Ever. Wow.

[Ripeberry]

Check out "LHC rap" on you-tube! Great nerd tune and we can all pretend to know what they are doing!

[GrimmaTheNome]

They're doing a special exhibition on the Large Hadron Collider at the Liverpool museum... anyone been and know if its good? We were thinking of going but its a bit of a trek

ps. I nearly mistyped Large Hadron do you think the physicist who came up with that term was very naive or a bit wicked?

[BoredyHouse]

KerryMum: "who knows maybe THIS is how the universe started in the first place.

But it isn't the FIRST universe, it's the 500th because we just keep blowing it up again and again."

LOL

[S1ur]

Not stupid at all, I just think it sounds fabulous and am eagerly awaiting the Hollywood version, possibly staring Keanu Reeves.

And I love particle physics language.

'Strangelets containing strange quarks'

As opposed to the normal up down variety.

Love it.

These kind of collisions happen in nature too.