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Large Hadron Collider
By News Desk | September 8, 2008
The biggest news in science this week, or month, or decade is the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider this Wednesday. This is the largest particle accelerator ever made and scientists are hoping it will reveal literally the secrets of the universe.
One of the first discoveries scientists are hoping for with the LHC is the Higgs Particle, which is believed to be the particle responsible for mass. This is a fundamental particle in the Standard Model, which explains the known particles and their properties.
The accelerator is hoping to recreate the milliseconds after the big bang revealing a “theory of everything” to explain the four forces in the natural world, Gravitational Electromagnetic, and strong and weak nuclear and how they work with each other.
There is a downside to this new landmark in technology. There is a small group of scientists who believe the switching on of the collider will mark the end of the world. These skeptics think the energy of the colliding particles will create a black whole, destroying the earth. This group feels so strongly about this that they went to the European Court for Human Rights to try and stop the LHC from being turned on. They were unsuccessful in their attempts and everything is on schedule. Generally speaking though the scientific community is excited and isn’t worried about the end of the world, at least not yet. The particles will only be fired one way until October, at which point the collisions will begin.
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