Black hole doom for all on the 10th September?

[usxhe190]

There are, however, holes in the theory - the most famous one being that the mass of the Higgs Boson is not predicted. However, as soon as we see this particle, and are able to measure its mass, it will lock down which particular theory is correct. Once we know the mass, we'll know pretty much everything about that particle because of the very solid foundation of theory that is already in place.

Actually, lots of scientists are betting that they won't find the Higgs Boson particle! (i.e. it will come up with some other result )

[Stoo]

The biggest one being Stephen Hawking..

[Stoo]

Black holes have been somewhat proven. Stars have been seen to be distorted in a fashion that might suggest that a black hole passed in front of them.

Also, everything in galaxies are being slowly pulled towards the center. This has been speculated to be due to supermassive black holes.

"somewhat", "might", "suggest", "speculated".

That, in my book != proven..

[TAKTAK]

The biggest one being Stephen Hawking..

actually, Hawking is quite thin

[Fraz]

Actually, lots of scientists are betting that they won't find the Higgs Boson particle! (i.e. it will come up with some other result )

Yes - granted. But there has to be something there that provides this mechanism, be it the (Standard Model) Higgs or otherwise. My point was that there is almost certainly a theory out there that just needs the experimental evidence to show it's the right one.

During my PhD I looked at several models. Some of these involved a single particle to provide the mass mechanism, others - such as the Minimally Supersymmetric Standard Model (the next least-complicated theory) involved several particles to provide the mass. There are a lot of theories out there. The theorists have had a lot of time to develop these theories because there has been no experiment capable of catching up with them until now.

[TAKTAK]

all this talk about these higs boson particles is OKAY... but the real question is, does it blend?

[santa claus]

Could someone gis a shout when they turn on the LHC please? Ta. Only when hugely momentous occasions happen (such as those that happen in space everyday with no consequence), I'd like to be watching.

Money well spent. That's a good one.

[DataMatrix]

And it's ignorant to assume that nothing negative will happen.

Personally, I will not loose sleep over it, mainly due to the fact that regardless of what I think, I couldn't stop them from performing this experiment, even if I wanted to. I do not know what will happen but then neither do the scientists, else they wouldn't be performing this grossly expensive experiment in the first place. Most of the people who are rubbishing the concerns of others have already decided what they believe will happen and are happy to live in their little protective bubble of ignorant comfort.

But the fact remains that MANY people are worried about it and anyone that rubbishes their concerns and calls them ignorant are almost certainly the real fools. Making your mind up that everything will be fine, when no one knows with 100% certainty, its rather short-sighted IMO......especially when you consider what they are trying to achieve is a glimpse into the beginning of the universe.

It's ignorant to believe that something WILL happen. There are thousands of galaxies out there, if they'd created a collider as powerful as the LHC and had serious repurcussions wouldn't the galaxy have been gone now as Stephen Hawkings said?

[DataMatrix]

The biggest one being Stephen Hawking..

Actually, Stephen Hawking bet that the LHC will not provide ANY answers and will be a dud. I seriously doubt that. The LHC will provide some secrets but probably not all.

[DataMatrix]

Could someone gis a shout when they turn on the LHC please? Ta. Only when hugely momentous occasions happen (such as those that happen in space everyday with no consequence), I'd like to be watching.

Money well spent. That's a good one.

21st October 2008 is the scheduled date for the first collisions.

[santa claus]

21st October 2008 is the scheduled date for the first collisions.

Ah, ok ta. So today was never really the 'big' day? I wish I'd known; I've had the squitters all day

[TAKTAK]

Ah, ok ta. So today was never really the 'big' day? I wish I'd known; I've had the squitters all day

nah today was basically turning it on and sending a few particles around (i think)

[DataMatrix]

nah today was basically turning it on and sending a few particles around (i think)

Yup. Today was the calibration and testing

[TAKTAK]

Yup. Today was the calibration and testing

which is the really big reason i was confused about all the 'were going to die' hype... as they weren't actually doing anything today...

no doubt the media'll try and hype it up till the end of october

[santa claus]

They NEVER said that on the telly. I thought it was touch and go as soon as it was 'switched' on. So the cost of food/mortgages/fuel goes through the roof whilst all the money is spent on a big torch?

[AdamAnubis]

Basically making sure everything was plugged in