Is the LHC Cursed??

[TheOtherSide (imported)]

I'm sure a lot of us have heard about the Large Hadron Collider, the largest 'atom-smasher' ever built, designed to search for an elusive particle called the Higgs boson.

That said, there are people who do believe that the particle cannot, and will not, ever be found. That the universe itself will prevent such a thing from happening. THis point of view isn't without it's evidence.

Nine days after it was first turned on, there was a massive failure due to a faulty electrical connection, which delayed the device working at full power for several months.

Several months later, a passing bird dropped a piece of baguette (I can't make this up, honestly.) which happened to fall down an air vent, land on a piece of vital equipment, and short things out, causing yet more downtime.

Just the other day, as things were finally on track for the device's first full-power runs, it was discovered that there were faults in construction. Some of the copper stabilizers were not up to handing a full-power run. And so, it's been shut down again, for another year, while this situation is repaired.

Is it just me, or is this starting to become a seriously strange run of bad luck? Any bets on what happens next? What will the next fault be once they've fixed this one?

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Nah... the failures are just the result of building perhaps humanitys largest, most complex scientific thingamabob. Bound to be so many parts of the whole that problems are inevitable.

It's certainly not some Universal Conspiracy to undermine the LHC's abilities... more like too many cooks ruining the broth; thousands of contractors, dozens of countrys involved, etc etc.

[moi621 (imported)]

Harmless, big mega device. Right?

Collapsing the whole universe into an area smaller then a pin head takes a lot of power and E.M.F. electromagnetic field. Beware when all matter is sucked into the LHC. Or just your dental metal.

Protected. Right just like corn with genetically manipulated worm poison did escape it's confinement and now is in the food supply. Like Aussies killing rabbits. They know.

Moi

Beware Scientists

[Dave (imported)]

The LHC is a prototype and this is called shakedown.

the news I read is that they intend to run it at half power for 18 to 24 months and then shut down to strengthen couplings around the magnets so that they handle full power.

Finding the Higgs Boson is not like finding "God."

That was a cheap headline that scientifically means nothing .

Finding the Higg Boson is one step closer to joining classical Newtonian physics with quantum mechanics -- that is, making one set of rules for the ultra small and the ultra large -- like subatonic particles and whole galaxies. Hopefully that theory will explain gravity and dark matter.

[punkypink (imported)]

I dunno where you got the baguette story from. I know someone who actually works, or worked at the LHC. I can ask him if that is true.

What I do know is that the "electrical wiring issue" was actually more serious than they made it out to be. It wasn't just a failure like machinery shutting down. It was an explosion, with quite severe levels of radiation released.

However, the most recent shutdown is actually part of a planned maintenance cycle. Most people don't realise, something this big and complex, actually has a long maintenance cycle.

I have to say though, there ARE indications that the LHC might be doomed. Why else would Gordon Freeman and the G-Man have been seen at the facility?!

[TheOtherSide (imported)]

I dunno where you got the baguette story from. I know someone who actually works, or worked at the LHC. I can ask him if that is true.

What I do know is that the "electrical wiring issue" was actually more serious than they made it out to be. It wasn't just a failure like machinery shutting down. It was an explosion, with quite severe levels of radiation released.

However, the most recent shutdown is actually part of a planned maintenance cycle. Most people don't realise, something this big and complex, actually has a long maintenance cycle.

I have to say though, there ARE indications that the LHC might be doomed. Why else would Gordon Freeman and the G-Man have been seen at the facility?!

Yeah, I know the first shutdown was due to a pretty damn massive... let's call it a 'glitch'. I've heard bits an pieces of what happened.

As to the bird/baguette... That's been reported various places from The Guardian, to Popular Science, to Gizmodo, and even... this page from CERN (http://user.web.cern.ch/user/news/2009/091106b.html).

See? It's photos like this (http://api.ning.com/files/8fil5gmLgTbnv ... AtCERN.jpg) that I swear prove that the universe, or the future is doing everything it can to keep that thing from ever fully going online. Clearly, this is why Half-Life 2 Episode 3 has yet to be released. They don't want us knowing that Gordon winds up being sent back to now, to prevent the Combine from taking over the planet by sabotaging the LHC.

[Riverwind (imported)]

like subatonic particles and whole galaxies. Hopefully that theory will explain gravity and dark matter.

I can explain gravity, if you drop a glass it will hit the floor and break, this is gravity and sudden stop syndrome all at once. As for dark matter, that's what goes down my toilet when I flush it, its all so simple when you look at it the right way.

Why do people need to make things more difficult then it needs to be?

River

[Dave (imported)]

...

Why do people need to make things more difficult then it needs to be?

...

But don't you want to know the why and wherefore of the entire universe? Aren't you filled with curiosity by the possibility of knowing what happened in the big bang?

[Riverwind (imported)]

But don't you want to know the why and wherefore of the entire universe? Aren't you filled with curiosity by the possibility of knowing what happened in the big bang?

in a word "No"

You see its a nice to know but not necessary, its like buying a steak at the store, I can see it and it looks good, I know it came from a steer but I don't need to know how it got from the steer to the butchers display.

It has no effect on me one way or the other.

River

[ramses (imported)]

I think solving the mystery of gravity could have huge implications on our lives in the same ways that many other spinoffs that come from pure science research.

There is such a tidal wave of technology that will change our lives in the near future including all sorts of nano technology that has huge implications on SO many things.

If we knew the exact mechanism of how gravity works, we may be able to create an anti gravitational field. Sounds cool but "so what"? It would allow us to levitate large heavy objects, fly anywhere, cars and trains that effortlessly levitate and have no weight.

I think that when humans quit "wondering" that we will be doomed. Pure science is crucial to the development of humanity and this planet.