cern

[jason.p]

Does anyone know what really happened when the Large Hadron Collider was fired up?
I've heard from a "reliable source" that several of the massive magnets were moved by up to ? 3 microns, which apparently would require an enormous ammount of energy, more than should have been available. Is it possible that a small black hole was created??
The reliable source was someone who had a guided tour around the establishment, and this has come to me about third hand so could well be distorted!

[neo101]

not to much happen. no black hole. were still all alive. but im sure mankind will keep tring to kill us all off lol

[jason.p]

Yes, we are alive, but could we be in an alternate universe and not realise it. (think I've been watching too much Star Trek!!!)

[neo101]

sounds logical i'll check my tricorder

[jake-the-peg]

I think he's probably referring to the first issue that happened a year or two back.

Cern magnets are superconducting and are kept at a few degrees above absolute zero by liquid Helium.

As part of the commissioning process it has to undergo what is called a "Quench test" where the temperature is allowed to go above the point at which the coils are superconducting.

This causes a sudden dramatic loss of the magnetic field.

It was at this point that it was discoverred that part of the system (Provided by FermiLab in the US) was not correctly braced and tI believe the beam pipe collided with the wall of the main vacuum tube

Big red faces in FermiLab and lots of official appologies.

Yes it did require an enormous amount of energy, all the energy that was built up in those super conducting magnets, but nobody was hurt, that's why the test is run.

No black holes would have been created.

[neo101]

ya no black holes thats a good thing yep

[eltelioni]

When it was "fired up" last year they simply sent a bunch of protons round the ring for the first time. There was never any chance of generating a black hole.

[jason.p]

Thanks for replies. So was the latest "firing" regarded as a success? Any idea when a full blown firing is expected?

[Symmetryigr8]

Nope, they flooded it.

[jake-the-peg]

Well they had a leak after that which has shut them down until the end of the year and they'll ramp up to full power in the following 8 months or so.

This was always one of the big issues about getting the press so involved.

This is the worlds most complex machine. It's been 20 years in the building. It would be astounding if it did work completely first time out - actually, more than astounding it would be beyond belief.

You get the press involved and they expect fireworks immediately that's the problem with the media and they'll start ripping it apart if they don't get them.

Also get this black hole thing out of your head. It's really, unlikely. And if it did happen it would be nothing like a huge planet gobbling black hole.

In fact for a while it was seriously considered that electrons might be micro black holes.

But check out Cerns web site, there's an "ask an expert" section and some great picures

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/

[jason.p]

Thanks Jake. Just checked out the CERN website. What an amazing set-up!!