Large Hadron Collider

Didn't know this, and couldn't be arsed reading through the entire thread again, but there's a one-off 'Torchwood' radio show, entitled 'Lost Souls' being broadcast tomorrow. The storyline is centred around the LHC and it's strange effects. Radio 4 in tomorrows "The Afternoon Play" slot. :)

When scientists start to disappear after the Large Hadron Collider was switched on at CERN, Torchwood investigates. Will they discover the secret of the glowing man, the source of the voices from the past, and what is lurking in the underground tunnel?
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Im not 100% sure on what will come out of this experiment...

I heard its to find the "god" particle. Not sure what that means tbh :confused:
 
"andy" said:
big waste of cash imo

for the amount that this matters to normal people they should have just picked one of the theories of what will happen out of a hat and stuck with that
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There are always people who say this about pure science - especially when it gets expensive. However these people's grandchildren are more than happy to use the resulting PCs, game consoles, microwave ovens, TV sets etc.

People are asking what sort of advances are going to come about as a result of this device. It's more a question of validation. Theoreticians theorise based on known observations, and come up with new predicitions. (Any scientific theory is pretty pointless unless it describes known facts AND makes new predictions). Equipment and experiments are devised to test new theoretical predictions (a failed prediction is as important as a verified prediction since it sets the theoreticians on completely new research lines). Experimentalists hand back confirmed scientific observations to theoreticians who go away and put hitherto unconfirmed predictions into the new category of confirmed working theory (or not), then go off and theorize some more with new data and the whole process just goes round and round.

There is almost never any immediate benefit to us all in basic science. It can take decades before the engineers and applied scientists start to build useful little gadgets from it.
 
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Sime said:
Im not 100% sure on what will come out of this experiment...

I heard its to find the "god" particle. Not sure what that means tbh :confused:
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To prove whether or not the higgs boson particle was just a theory or is the way forward as far as theories go.
It's a particle that gives all other particles mass, without it, you me the planet and everything else would fall apart.

If that theory is correct then they can form the next theory down the line with some form of solid base to go from.

Science at it's best.. create a theory, test it, if it's true you understood things correctly and can move on.
 
They're trying to find the Higgs Boson, the particle that is supposedly the quantum particle for the Higgs Field, which scientists believe is responsible for mass.

The Laws of Physics state that all dimensions must have a quantum particle, so they are trying to find the particle for the Higgs Field because it will prove the field's existance.

The problem is the Higgs particle is large and thus unstable, so the scientists are looking for the results of it's decay, which would all eminate from a central point (the location of the Higgs Boson before it decayed).

Obviously no Higgs particles are left because they decayed shortly after the universe was created.

:)
 
Cool stuff. So this kicks off tomorrow doesnt it? I seem to remeber something happening on the 10th to do with hte LHC
 
In exactly what way does this higgs boson give mass?

I find the idea of a particle that gives mass the same as a particle that gives mavity (a graviton), a bit unlikely and hard to accept tbh.
 
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