LHC Explained (video)

Found this 6 minute video explaining exactly what the LHC does.
LHC Explained

I think its all pretty amazing. 99.9% of the speed of light and they keep adding energy to it. Is this the first time we put Einstein's theory to the test? It is kind of scary and tantalizing at the same time.

maybe it's just me but the link is not working. can you please re post a link.

[edit on 18-9-2008 by silverking]

reply to post by sn00daard


Thanks for the link, interesting!

Is this the first time we put Einstein's theory to the test?

In this capacity on this scale perhaps. It depends which theory you are referring to. Long ago, they observed how light follows a curved path through space (which gets warped by objects of large mass). The LHC was really made to test string theory, which is built upon Einstein's theories.

I ment the one that said that you would need to add an infinite amount of energy to it to make it go as fast as, or faster than, the speed of light. Just imagine it WOULD go faster then the speed of light if they keep adding energy to it, what implications would that have? My scientific knowledge is basic, at best. Thats why I liked this video, it explains everything pretty good.

[edit on 19-9-2008 by sn00daard]

The video ends with a collision of proton packets where each particle wields 14 TeV of energy. Can these quite energetic collisions produce exotic particles that would redefine planet Earth?

According to what is expected to take place inside LHC, none of the produced stuff is dangerous, but even the CERN physicist do not exclude the possibility that the collisions will produce stranglets, such as the "mini black holes." that make up the LHC controversy. So if these critters show up, what will happen?

Here is an answer from MIT:
arxiv.org...

But the chances that a catastrophe will take place due to the unexpected are impossible to compute, because the parameter called "the unexpected" renders any computation technique useless. That means, one would have to define "the unexpected" and compute the chances that LHC will produce strangelets that the Standard Model knows nothing about. That means "the unexpected" is a function of the level of confidence that the Standard Model describes the realities. And that means, one would have to measure the difference between the fact and the theory to make the equation work. Since the fact is not known (doh), F - T => Level of Confidence doesn't work, and the chances that a catastrophe due to the unexpected will take place cannot be enumerated.

But if the chances that something bad will happen cannot be computed, the chances that something good will happen may be. Just find the chance that

G = r

and the chance that

GLUA = true

and multiply both expressions.

(G = r) * (GLUA = true) = chances that nothing bad will happen.

The chances that G = r, or that God = real, are between 1:6 to 1:20 by belief, and the chances that God Loves Us All = true is not determined yet and is given by the result coming from LHC. If nothing bad happens, then GLUA = true can be set to more than zero. But if nothing bad will happen, then the computation of (G = r) * (GLUA = true) is redundant, and possibly left to be crunched by the theologists.