Open Thread -- "And on 11 September, 2008, the world ended..." Edition

Posted Wed, 09/10/2008 - 09:10 by Open Thread
bumped...(originally posted back on the 2nd - 2008-09-02 12:47:04) -- since today is the day for CERN... cho

Some people panic easily; others require specific, targeted goading. And then there are those who don't tend to panic at all, but enjoy with wicked abandon the sheer, stark terror of those who do panic and then write about it. Here's a brief timeline of potentially significant events for this portion of the 21st century:

September 11, 2001: A day that will live in infamy. September 10, 2008: The first full-circuit test of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will take place. September 11, 2008: The world ends. It would also be a day that would live in infamy, if not for the fact that it would awfully difficult to pull off, what with the world having ceased to exist.
The first date listed needs no particular introduction or explanation. The second date pertains to an event that this article touches briefly upon. The third date is an arbitrarily chosen date on which the Vogons will destroy the planet to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. Or something. It's always the end of the world somewhere. This is an Open Thread.

Comments

at least there is consideration of the possibilities

by luaptifer - 09/02/2008 - 15:32
I remember reading about the thinking behind the scenes of those who were planning for the first experimental explosions based on fission chain-reactions.
In the light of new experimental data and theoretical understanding, the LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) has updated a review of the analysis made in 2003 by the LHC Safety Study Group, a group of independent scientists. LSAG reaffirms and extends the conclusions of the 2003 report that LHC collisions present no danger and that there are no reasons for concern. Whatever the LHC will do, Nature has already done many times over during the lifetime of the Earth and other astronomical bodies. The LSAG report has been reviewed and endorsed by CERN’s Scientific Policy Committee, a group of external scientists that advises CERN’s governing body, its Council.
I probably didn't understand it well enough to know what later considerations brought to the thinking of the time. I only remember coming away from a particular passage of that history, mind-blown in the realization that, "Holy crap! They had no idea whether or not the fission chain reactions they were deciding to set off would cascade continuously until all of the fissile material of our little Terran island in the Universal vaccuum was consumed!" Fortunately, the process was self-limiting ;-)

GH located discussion of the issue

by luaptifer - 09/02/2008 - 15:58
my fuzzy memory recalled. Looks like it was a hypothetical feedback scenario, where explosion-generated heat would catlyze a cascade of nitrogen-fission reactions generating more heat to catalyze more fission, ad infinitum, until the reality of a finite atmosphere kicked in, of course. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_nuclear_explosions
In 1945 there was some initial speculation among the scientists developing the first nuclear weapons that there might be a possibility of igniting the Earth's atmosphere with a large enough nuclear explosion. This would concern a nuclear reaction of two nitrogen atoms forming a carbon and an oxygen atom, with release of energy. This energy would heat up the remaining nitrogen enough to keep the reaction going until all nitrogen atoms were consumed. This was, however, quickly shown to be unlikely enough to be considered impossible [2]. Nevertheless, the notion has persisted as a rumour for many years.

Science fiction drives science ...

by roxy - 09/02/2008 - 16:56
Great pics and comments at Boston.com ----- ePMedia ... get the scoop with us!
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. ~ George Carlin
ePMedia ... get the scoop with us!
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. ~ George Carlin<
GreyHawk's picture

Yep -- I use science all the time in my fiction writing.

by GreyHawk - 09/02/2008 - 19:04
Sometimes, I'm even ~accurate~ with it. (Tho mostly I just make up stuff.)

Way too much fun ...

by roxy - 09/02/2008 - 17:18
CERN to MORONS and just check out where the morons are from. :( ----- ePMedia ... get the scoop with us!
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. ~ George Carlin
ePMedia ... get the scoop with us!
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. ~ George Carlin<
GreyHawk's picture

Heh -- those crazy Hawaiians...

by GreyHawk - 09/02/2008 - 19:06
...don't worry. There's even more loonies on the mainland. We've been waiting for the sensible Hawaiians to find a way to convince the loonies to sacrifice themselves to a volcano, so we can convince the larger number of loonies here to go join 'em... So get crackin'. ;)

Wrong Acronymn

by umbrarchist - 09/02/2008 - 17:35
That should be NERO. Nuclear European Research Organization Kill an economist for Karl
Kill an economist for Karl
GreyHawk's picture

Heh -- maybe that's why they stuck with CERN.

by GreyHawk - 09/02/2008 - 19:07
Something about NERO just doesn't sound right when you're trying to convince people that something is "perfectly safe," ya know? ;)

made one too many digressions

by luaptifer - 09/02/2008 - 20:41
from a roxy link, above, but isn't that why the WWW was invented? ...never know where you'll end up, who'd've guessed at a potentially dangerous mistranslation of the Kama Sutra? http://xkcd.com/414/

GreyHawk's picture

Ah, nice find. xkcd is a good comic.

by GreyHawk - 09/03/2008 - 03:08
In fact, it's also a good open thread.

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