Experiments to know how the big bang theory worked

Sci/Tech

Not the end of the world

Two long tunnels bring together matter at near the speed of light

By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse

Scientists have quashed suggestions that a £350m experiment planned for the autumn could cause the destruction of the Earth.

The director of the laboratory commissioning the machine says there is "no chance" of the atom-smashing experiment causing a disaster, such as a black hole that would devour the entire Earth.

Researchers have spent eight years constructing the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island in New York state. Its goal is to smash the nuclei of atoms together and study their wreckage to determine the fundamental properties of matter.

Huge magnets are needed to accelerate the particles

RHIC takes atoms of gold and swings them around two 3.8 kilometre (2.4 mile) circular tubes where powerful magnets accelerate them to almost the speed of light. When they collide, they do so in minute collisions that are 10,000 times hotter than the Sun.

Scientists hope to create a quark-gluon plasma, a fundamental state of matter that probably has not existed naturally in the Universe since the Big Bang.

Armageddon?

But could they create something else, a mini-black hole perhaps or a new form of particle with unknown properties that could expand and engulf the Earth?

That was the suggestion made recently in the letters section of the Scientific American magazine, "I am concerned that physicists are going where it is unsafe to go," said one correspondent

If a mini black hole was created then some speculate that, in certain circumstances and if it was next to a concentration of mass, it could become stable and continue to grow. It would be drawn towards the centre of the Earth, where it would start to grow. It might engulf the entire Earth within minutes.

Too far-fetched

But it is all a bit-far fetched according to the scientists commissioning the particle collider. John Marburger, Director of Brookhaven Laboratories says: "I am familiar with the issue of possible dire consequences of experiments at the RHIC, which Brookhaven Lab is now commissioning.

"These issues have been raised and examined by responsible scientists who have concluded that there is no chance that any phenomenon produced by RHIC will lead to disaster.

"The amount of matter involved in the RHIC collisions is exceedingly small - only a single pair of atomic nuclei is involved in each collision. Our Universe would have to be extremely unstable in order for such a small amount of energy to cause a large effect."

"On the contrary, the Universe appears to be quite stable against releases of much larger amounts of energy that occur in astrophysical processes."

He emphasises that RHIC collisions will be within the spectrum of energies encompassed by naturally occurring cosmic radiation that strikes the Earth all the time.

Experts in the relevant fields of physics have been asked to produce a single comprehensive report on the safety of each of the speculative "disaster scenarios". When completed it will be placed on the laboratory's web site.

Familiar fear

It is not the first time that scientists and others have worried that they may produce some form of chain-reaction in their particle colliders that may endanger the Earth.

In the 1970's the Russian physicist Yakob Zeldovich expressed concern that experiments being carried out at the Cern European particle physics centre in Switzerland may result in catastrophe. He later carried out more calculations and decided that his fears were groundless.

In 1995 protestors picketed the Fermilab laboratory near Chicago carrying the banner "Fermilab: home of the next supernova." Experts said their fears were baseless.

Lincoln, Kennedy Coincidences

LINCOLN & KENNEDY COINCIDENCES

Urban Legend...

Readers are invited to add to this developing and evolving compilation of coincidences:

- Lincoln's name has 7 letters
- Kennedy's name has 7 letters

- In Lincoln's & Kennedy's names the vowels & consonants fall in exactly the same place;***
in the order c, v, c, c, v, c, c

- Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846
- Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946

- Lincoln was elected president in 1860
- Kennedy was elected president in 1960

- Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln

- War was thrust upon Lincoln almost immediately after inauguration
- War was thrust upon Kennedy almost immediately after inauguration

- Lincoln ordered the Treasury to print its own money
- Kennedy ordered the Treasury to print its own money

- International bankers may have arranged the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy

- Lincoln gave negroes freedom and legalized equality
- Kennedy enforced equality for negroes

- Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863
- Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963

- Lincoln was loved by the common people and hated by the establishment
- Kennedy was loved by the common people and hated by the establishment

- Lincoln was succeeded, after assassination, by vice-president Johnson
- Kennedy was succeeded, after assassination, by vice-president Johnson

- Andrew Johnson was born in 1808
- Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908

- Andrew Johnson's name has 13 letters
- Lyndon Johnson's name has 13 letters

- Lincoln was sitting beside his wife when he was shot
- Kennedy was sitting beside his wife when he was shot

- Rathbone, who was with Lincoln when he was shot, was injured (by being stabbed)--------------NEW
- Connally, who was with Kennedy when he was shot, was injured (by being shot)
- Rathbone's name has 8 letters
- Connally's name has 8 letters

- Lincoln's wife held his head in her lap after he was shot--------------NEW
- Kennedy's wife held his head in her lap after he was shot

- Lincoln was shot on a Friday
- Kennedy was shot on a Friday

- Lincoln was shot in a theatre named Ford
- Kennedy was shot in a car made by Ford

- Kennedy was shot in a car named Lincoln

- Lincoln's bodyguard was away from his post at the door of the President's box at the theatre
- Kennedy's bodyguards were away from their posts on the running-boards of the President's car

- Lincoln was shot in a theatre and his assassin ran to a warehouse
- JFK was shot from a warehouse and his alleged assassin ran to a theatre

- Lincoln's assassin had a three-worded name, John Wilkes Booth
- Kennedy's alleged assassin had a three-worded name, Lee Harvey Oswald

- John Wilkes Booth has 15 letters
- Lee Harvey Oswald has 15 letters

- John Wilkes Boothe was born in 1839 ---------correction, should be 1838
- Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939

- Lincoln didn't die immediately after being shot
- Kennedy didn't die immediately after being shot

- Lincoln and Kennedy died in places beginning with the initials P and H
- Lincoln died in Petersen's house
- Kennedy died in Parkland Hospital

- Booth was shot and killed* in police custody before going to trial
- Oswald was shot and killed in police custody before going to trial

- Kennedy's funeral was modelled on Lincoln's funeral

- Andrew Johnson was a heavy drinker with crude behaviour
- Lyndon Johnson was a heavy drinker with crude behaviour

- There were conspiracy theories that Johnson was knowledgeable about Lincoln's assassination
- There were conspiracy theories that Johnson was knowledgeable about Kennedy's assassination**

- Days before it happened Lincoln told his wife and friends about a dream he'd had of being shot by an assassin
- Hours before it happened Kennedy told his wife and friends it would be easy for an assassin to shoot him from a crowd

- Shortly after Lincoln was shot the telegraph system went down
- Shortly after Kennedy was shot the telephone system went down

- Kennedy's father had been the Ambassador to England at the Court of St James
- Lincoln's son became the Ambassador to England at the Court of St James

- Lincoln and Kennedy were 2 of the greatest presidents of the nation

- Lincoln's wife tastefully and expensively re-decorated the White House
- Kennedy's wife tastefully and expensively re-decorated the White House

- Lincoln loved great literature and could recite poetry by heart
- Kennedy loved great literature and could recite poetry by heart

- Lincoln had young children while living at the White House
- Kennedy had young children while living at the White House

- Lincoln's sons had ponies they rode on the White House grounds
- Kennedy's daughter had a pony she rode on the White House grounds

- Lincoln lost a child (12 year old son) to death while President
- Kennedy lost a child (newly born son) to death while President

- Lincoln had 2 sons named Robert and Edward. Edward died young and Robert lived on.
- Kennedy had 2 brothers named Robert and Edward. Robert died young and Edward lived on

- Lincoln let his children run and play in his office
- Kennedy let his children run and play in his office

- After Lincoln's assassination the nation experienced an emotional convulsion
- After Kennedy's assassination the nation experienced an emotional convulsion

- the whole world cried when Lincoln died
- the whole world cried when Kennedy died

- Lincoln's funeral train travelled from Washington-DC to New York
- Kennedy's brother's funeral train travelled from New York to Washington-DC

- Lincoln Assassination conspiracy theories are believed these 140 141 years later
- Kennedy Assassination conspiracy theories are believed these 42 43 years later

- Abraham was the first name of the man who filmed Kennedy's murder in the Lincoln

- The man running alongside Kennedy's car snapping pictures with his 35mm camera was a salesman of Lincoln cars

- Kennedy bought a Virginia home that was the 1861 Civil War headquarters of Lincoln's first general-in-chief, McClellan

- Jefferson Davis was the name of the president of the Confederate states while Lincoln was president of the Union states
- Jefferson Davis Tippit was the name of the police officer killed allegedly by Kennedy's alleged assassin

- Lincoln was famous for his wit and for telling hilarious stories and anecdotes
- Kennedy was famous for his wit and for telling hilarious stories and anecdotes

- Lincoln was sitting in a rocking chair at Ford's Theater when he was shot
- Kennedy had a special rocking chair he sat in at the White House
- Henry Ford bought the rocking chair Lincoln died in and put it in his museum in Dearborn

- Kennedy's seat in the Lincoln he was sitting in when he was shot is in Ford's museum
- Lincoln's seat in the Ford he was sitting in when he was shot is in Ford's museum