Friday, September 12, 2008

Is the Large Hadron Collider Cool or What?




I have been a sci-fi junkie for a long time. I can't remember what was my first sci-fi novel I read but it might have been some at my grandma's house. She had a number of Asimov and classic science fiction books there and I have been hooked ever since.

When I was in junior high and high school I used to walk home or take the bus to either the comic book store or Redux Used Junk on Broadway Avenue near the church. There was a decrepit building there with three or four store fronts that seemed to change with the seasons. Both stores had ample supplies of used paperbacks. I always felt like the comic book store owner was annoyed with me because I would go in and read for hours at a time and buy very little. The couple that owned the junk store were friendly though and so I spent more and more time there. They were young and attractive and were full of interesting stories about times that they drove their VW bus down to Chile and survived selling jewelry out of the back. They were waiters at a fancy restaurant downtown and had the store as a sort of hobby I think. Anyway they were kind enough to keep me well stocked in old science fiction paperbacks.

But now it is all real. The Large Hadron Collider could destroy the earth! Make antimatter! Unveil the Higgs Boson! Unveil Dark Matter! All we need now is space elevators. Ooh, or mining operations in the Kuiper Belt. And antigravity drives. And warp engines. And some aliens would round it all out nicely.

5 comments:

Charlotte said...

What IS a Large Hadron Collider?

BrianG said...

It is an atom smasher. the biggest one ever made. It is miles across and 300 ft under ground. It accelerates protons with large magnets going in opposite directions until they smash into each other at tremendous speeds separating them into subatomic particles.

BrianG said...

Did I mention that within the maelstrom of energy created when the masses of atoms are split it is predicted that dark matter, antimatter, and small black holes will be created?

Charlotte said...

Thanks for the explanation. ;0)

Jon said...

I read about the Hadron Collider last week and have been thinking about it ever since. How awsome is it that we could potentially creat black holes? Just the idea makes me want to play the song "When worlds collide" by Powerman 5000.