Yes, the ubiquitous “they” are about to open up a black hole in France which will devour the Earth and possibly the entire solar system. Global warming doesn’t quite seem so bad now, does it? Seriously, the LHC is a pure geek thrill for those of us who love discovery and exploration. Because it is exploring; the LHC is exploring the micro-multi-uni-verse, in hopes of bringing us closer to some of the fundamental reasons for life, the universe, and everything.
In some ways the LHC is the equivalent of Deep Thought, the computer Douglas Adams created for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that was tasked with answering that same question–of life, the universe, and everything. Or, if you keep up with your science news, the answer has already been discovered–A.K.A. the “God Particle“–in which case the LHC would actually be the descendent of Deep Thought, which, you’ll know, turned out to be Planet Earth. Earth was designed to provide the actual question itself–the question of life, the universe, and everything.
When activated, it is hoped that the collider will produce the elusive Higgs boson — often dubbed the God Particle — the observation of which could confirm the predictions and ‘missing links’ in the Standard Model of physics, and explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass. The verification of the existence of the Higgs boson would be a significant step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory which seeks to unify three of the four fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force. The Higgs boson may also help to explain why the remaining force, gravitation, is so weak compared to the other three forces.
If the God Particle is the answer, then the LHC is intended to provide the proof of concept, at least, along with a few million other questions, including:
- Are there other dimensions?
- What is Dark Matter?
- What is Dark Energy?
- Why is the universe expanding?
- What did the universe look like immediately after the Big Bang?
- I haven’t read about this any where, but I have to wonder if the LHC will be able to give us a proof of concept for fusion…
- Will a fabricated black hole suck me into it and what will it feel like to be spaghettificated?
And to surf through the billions of terabytes of data the LHC is going to churn out? (Yes, this just keeps getting better and better…) Well, they’ve built a new, better internet and called it “the Grid.”
The Grid will not only enable sharing of documents and MP3 files, but also connect PCs with sensors, telescopes and tidal-wave simulators … focusing on a project in which resources from Pan-European research institutions will analyze data generated by a new particle collider being built at Swiss particle-physics lab CERN
And amidst all this clarifying chaos, I will only add that the Singularity is near.
