If you are reading this we haven't been sucked into a black hole.
Yet.
Success! The world hasn't ended
By The Sun STAFF REPORTER
WE are all still here!
By The Sun STAFF REPORTER
WE are all still here!
The world's most powerful physics experiment is well and truly under way.
Scientists cheered as a beam of proton particles completed their first circuit of the 27km long Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
Scientists cheered as a beam of proton particles completed their first circuit of the 27km long Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
At 8.30am today, the machine which some fear could create a giant black hole capable of swallowing the planet was switched on.
Dr Lyndon Evans, known as Lyn, is leader of the Large Hadron Collider project at the Geneva-based European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
The white-haired Welshman showed few signs of stress, however, even finding time for a small joke when the machine took a second longer than expected to demonstrate it was operating correctly.
“Five, four, three, two, one, zero,” he counted down, then smiled as he added: “Nothing.”
The white-haired Welshman showed few signs of stress, however, even finding time for a small joke when the machine took a second longer than expected to demonstrate it was operating correctly.
“Five, four, three, two, one, zero,” he counted down, then smiled as he added: “Nothing.”
But then, as if on cue, a blip appeared on a computer monitor to signal that the long years of planning, construction and minute calibration had paid off.
But the experts behind the biggest experiment in human history have spent the hours leading up to it performing a bizarre rap for the internet.
But the experts behind the biggest experiment in human history have spent the hours leading up to it performing a bizarre rap for the internet.
In the Large Hadron Rap – named after the £5billion Large Hadron Collider machine – a robotic voice meant to sound like disabled British genius Prof Stephen Hawking explains how the team is about “to drop some particle physics in da club”.
As the boffins dance around the European Nuclear Research Centre – known as CERN, using its French initials – their chief rapper called Alpinekat chants:
“The LHC accelerates the protons and the lead.
“And the things that it discovers will rock you in the head.
“We see asteroids and planets galore, “We know a black hole resides at each galaxy’s core.
“But even all that matter can not explain “What holds all these stars together something else remains.”
As the boffins dance around the European Nuclear Research Centre – known as CERN, using its French initials – their chief rapper called Alpinekat chants:
“The LHC accelerates the protons and the lead.
“And the things that it discovers will rock you in the head.
“We see asteroids and planets galore, “We know a black hole resides at each galaxy’s core.
“But even all that matter can not explain “What holds all these stars together something else remains.”
Scientists from 60 countries have been working 250ft underground on the project which is trying to recreate conditions in the first billionth of a second after the Big Bang dawn of the universe 14 billion years ago.
They aim to fire beams of protons at almost the speed of light in opposite directions through a 17-mile ring-shaped frozen tunnel.
Each beam will pack as much energy as a 93mph Eurostar train.
Although the big switch-on took place today, the first high-energy collisions are not due until October 21.
The CERN team insist the project is safe.
They say it could even help to bring massive benefits, such as a cure for cancer and solutions to nuclear waste and global warming.
They aim to fire beams of protons at almost the speed of light in opposite directions through a 17-mile ring-shaped frozen tunnel.
Each beam will pack as much energy as a 93mph Eurostar train.
Although the big switch-on took place today, the first high-energy collisions are not due until October 21.
The CERN team insist the project is safe.
They say it could even help to bring massive benefits, such as a cure for cancer and solutions to nuclear waste and global warming.
But doomsday merchants fear that the mini black holes created will enlarge and become unstable, with a bigger one capable of destroying the world.
They even tried to get the European Court of Human Rights to stop the tests.
They even tried to get the European Court of Human Rights to stop the tests.
