Comments about ‘Initial test of atom smasher has world scientists beaming’

First Post!

Here in Europe, there's been lots of doomsday predictions that the LHC would destroy the earth. How interesting that the nature of such commentaries has been "How could scientists endanger us like this?"

Of course, had it been built in the US as originally planned, the answer would have been obvious: "Because those Americans are all so EVIL!"

Perhaps this could be a way of improving America's PR; just build everything in Europe!

Andrew Shakspeare, Cardiff, Wales

Cool article amazing what we can do now!!

(I still hate chemistry...)

Several years ago the United States was set to build a collider 4 times as large and as powerful as teh cern collider. Congress made the decision that it didn't want to spend money on that and the then future international space station.

I think choosing the space station over the collider was a big science mistake. I'm not aware of even one contribution to science or anything else that the space station has brought us.

The collider gives us fundamental understanding of physics.

And who or what created the universe before it was created -- the space and matter that existed in order to create the so-called Big Bang? The true mystery, and one that scientists are unlikely to figure out, is how to create living organisms from non-living molecules.

So it is no dangerous, however when the thing is activated they evacuate the tunnel. I don't really see the importance if we don't know what we will get from this. $531 Million dollars from the US for a science project is a lot of money. Hopefully we can get some flying cars like the Jetsons have when this is done. By the way "black Holes" are scientist imaginary proof of self worth.

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper

"The collider gives us fundamental understanding of physics."

And this helps all the real needs of humanity HOW???

This kind of incredible waste of money for the satisfaction of curiosity is unconscionable.

Read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. It is a great fiction with this "science experiment" as the premis for the story. The movie will be released next year as well for those of you who would rather watch.

I'm not so sure canceling the SSC was a mistake, "A Mistake was Made." It was an overly ambitious spec (I was working in accelerator physics as a student then), the lab was arguably not managed well, according to some, and it was extremely expensive and would have no doubt gone terribly over budget.

But the big mistake with the SSC, in my opinion, was that it should have been an international project, spreading the money and risk around. Way too ambitious for the US to take it on alone. It was funded by one session of Congress and axed by another.

Let's see... the particle accelerator is turned on; Iran and Japan have major earthquakes the same day. Those scientists better be careful where they are pointing that thing!!

I hope these science folk don't do things what could damage the earth. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't break it.

ha i hate chemistry too, but I think this has more to do with physics! Maybe you were in the wrong class. Does anybody know if this is similar to the stuff the book Angels and Demons talks about? The whole anti-matter/black-matter thing?

A Scientist says to God: "God, we don't need you anymore. We've made great strides in technology, we can cure diseases and create all kinds of things. We can even create a world with people and animals, just like Earth. "

GOD: "Ok, lets see you make a world like Earth."

The scientist reaches down to grab a handful of dirt, intent on showing God how he can create a world from nothing.

GOD: "Woah, that's mine. Create your own dirt."
-------------

I heard that a long time ago, thought it way funny and fit the topic...

I think this is cool, lets see what they can make out of this. I just think talk of doomsday machine is dumb. People told colombus he was going to fall off the edge of the world.

Big bang theory is just that, a theory!

Where do they get the particles to put in the collider? Do they put a little bit of some element into it, or do they just go with whatever gasses are there naturally when they sealed the thing? It's a vacuum (sp?), right? So there's no air in it, but what elements donate the particles to be fired through the tubes?

This is really cool. What kind of power can this promote? Is it the descendant of the atomic bomb? Can it produce energy? I'm anxious to hear what can be learned from this work.

Give me a break - this isn't going to do anyone any good. It is a waste of money needed to provide for those less fortunate. What a joke! Just another toy for men to play with and call themselves scientists. Right!

Re: Re: A Mistake was Made

It was that same curiosity that you're decrying that gives you the modern conveniences that you currently enjoy...electricity, transportation, medicine. I, for one, am grateful for humanity's curiosity throughout history.