tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736188646958105958.post6689113763838410721..comments2023-10-18T06:25:42.938-07:00Comments on The Science of Conundrums: The Almost Thermonuclear LHCAlan Gillishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00891733244573571562noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736188646958105958.post-49154251222202149332008-09-28T09:37:00.000-07:002008-09-28T09:37:00.000-07:00If an explosion happens at the LHC, and that's far...If an explosion happens at the LHC, and that's far from certain, energy is released. That means some matter is transformed into energy, so the earth will lose some matter and gravity, though not much. Many nuclear bombs have been exploded by scientists, and there hasn't been a noticable change in gravity. But the damage to Earth is still great.<BR/><BR/>Helium-4, the isotope used as the superfluid coolant at the LHC, would be to some extent ionized into helium-3 when protons scatter from the proton beams or when beams are lost. In proton collisions if helium is close enough to these particle explosions, there would be some collisions with helium. The effect would be minimal except if some helium leaked into the collision chamber or the collision chamber and helium lines were damaged by the fireball of proton collisions and the particle explosions.<BR/><BR/>Some of the detectors inside these chambers use liquid argon and carbon dioxide to cool them. I don't know if there if there are any helium lines cooling any detectors.<BR/><BR/>Helium certainly is used in all 4 major experiments to cool the giant magnets to a superconducting state that contain the proton explosions. So helium sources are close by.<BR/><BR/>As we've seen recently, an engineering failure (power not cut to an overheating busbar) and an equipment failure (the defective busbar) led to melting of 2 giant magnets and an uncontrollable release of about a tonne of liquid helium. If proton beams were running, there could have been more damage.<BR/><BR/>The LHC is such a complex machine that the first risks to worry about are these sorts of failures, which could ultimately destroy the LHC even before collisions start.<BR/><BR/>Although CERN has studied theoretical risks like strange objects that might be produced in collisions, micro black holes and strangelets that get all the publicity, the fact is the ordinary safety of the collider is in doubt. Of course CERN engineers have built in many safety systems, but they have already seen 2 other major unexpected failures. CMS computer system hacked, and this is where the World Wide Web was invented, and the destruction of a powerful 30 tonne transformer during a thunderstorm.<BR/><BR/>Instead of running beams right away, they should run the collider for a year to thoroughly test all their new equipment. Why the rush?<BR/><BR/>If CERN gets this far, the safety of the extremely high energy beams and their collisions, is simply unknown. Theoretically CERN says there are no worries. Practically speaking, who knows?Alan Gillishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00891733244573571562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736188646958105958.post-29545571521722635912008-09-21T22:36:00.000-07:002008-09-21T22:36:00.000-07:00prlacIm not a scientist, but i was curious about h...prlacIm not a scientist, but i was curious about how helium if released in the pipes would react to crashing those particles together. Especially after the first start up on the 10th of sept which had a helium leak before the particles were collided. Kinda creepy.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13628242455771160692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736188646958105958.post-43185416001355678542008-09-21T19:50:00.000-07:002008-09-21T19:50:00.000-07:00im not a scientist, or anything like that, im a 15...im not a scientist, or anything like that, im a 15 year old kid, but if this big explosion happens, couldnt this big crater affect the earths gravitational pull, if im correct, the greater the mass, the greater the gravitational pull? (dont know for sure, just a kid) but ya, a hole this big? might cause a few problems! lol-=justwondering=-https://www.blogger.com/profile/02627507334913892907noreply@blogger.com