What are the main dangers posed by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland?

Could it mess with the laws of physics

Bob B2010-08-30T02:39:32Z

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You can't "mess with the laws of physics"- that's why they're the laws of physics.

Apart from the obvious dangers posed by working in a 100km tunnel underground (i.e. falling, electrocution, and pretty much any other danger associated with a major engineering task), there's no special dangers posed by the LHC.

The big one that scares people is the idea that it could somehow create a black hole that could swallow the Earth. While the LHC could create a black hole, it would be too small to see and would disintegrate in seconds.

Cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere collide with air atoms in basically the same was as the LHC collides particles. Have you noticed any problems from them yet?

xpatinasia2010-08-30T02:54:49Z

It is more beneficial to study physics, rather than read the internet hoaxes surrounding the science. The hoaxes are more interesting, of course. There are no dangers posed by the LHC. The universe isn't going to collapse.

marcyniuk2016-10-19T10:04:31Z

Yeah i'm worried that it will no longer finally artwork superb and positioned an end to the earth as quickly as and for all. We build device after device attempting to make those killer black holes and strangelets, yet no longer something keeps happening different than for gaining expertise of recent debris so we could make new theories approximately a thank you to smash the universe with the subsequent device. Scythian--i does not concern too plenty approximately US dominance. that's different from each united states dominates straight forward examine. that is usually a similar center human beings at LHC who have been engaged on tevatron. they only packed up and moved to Geneva from Chicago. lots of them are human beings, some Euros, some jap. an excellent style of the scientists are nonetheless affiliated with their dwelling house universities, so as that they do no longer flow completely. a similar team that produced some random piece of electronics in between the sensors for ATLAS or CMS might have produced the analogous piece at tevatron. For human beings, having the test there merely potential having to fly to Geneva on occasion and having to attend conferences by potential of telecon at particularly wierd hours. those issues bypass in cycles. i could say extra beneficial than 50/50, the ILC would be interior the U. S., probable at Fermilab. they gained't do 2 massive projects in a row at CERN. Russia has a bid in, yet there's no way in hell the particle physics community could prefer to spend some years in Moscow. human beings like Chicago. --And no i'm going to bypass on checklist as asserting i'm no longer prepared to sacrifice my life just to work out the "god particle". Sacrifice a pair of years sifting with the aid of documents to locate a sign that slightly pokes above the history noise, consistent with hazard. Sacrifice my life and yours so as that the universe can bypass out in style, definitely. yet sacrifice my life for a glimpse, no.

miamidot2010-08-30T09:26:35Z

The danger of wasting BIlLIONS of euros spent on it due to people like you opposing it.

Due to people like you who believe microwaving your food will make it radioactive.
Due to people like you who believe that the moon exploration was a fraud because the flag was standing too stiff without any "wind blowing to flutter it".
Due to people like you who enjoy watching sci-fi movies so long as the space vessels glide around with swishing sounds despite the fact that sound does not transmit well in near empty space.

Mr. Brightside2010-08-30T02:34:15Z

No, it could not. The only sorts of danger that could happen are technical danger inside the tunnel.

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