LHC & The Big Bang Theory

I've been intrigued by the stories of the Large Hadron Collider for some time now. Here's an excerpt from a report from NPR in 2008 just before the LHC collided with catastrophe:

It will be weeks before circulating beams are made to collide with each other. But Oddone said sending the first beam around is an important step toward full operation of this giant, complex machine. Then, he said, "we can create particles that haven't been seen since a trillionth of a second after the big bang."

Physicists hope a particle they call the Higgs (once referred to as the "God Particle") will emerge. It would help explain why things in the universe have mass. They also hope to manufacture particles of "dark matter" — that mysterious invisible stuff that astronomers believe makes up a quarter of the mass of the universe.

Some models predict that the collider could even create miniature black holes. Physicists say that is a long shot, and certainly nothing to worry about. The black holes, they say, would evaporate — not devour the planet.

"The universe is full of high-energy particles that are much higher in energy than anything we could conceivably make with our puny little accelerators," said John Cramer, a physicist at the University of Washington in Seattle. Very high-energy cosmic rays are slamming into the moon all the time, he said. If this were a problem, "the moon probably wouldn't be there. The fact that it is, probably means that we are safe."

Thanks to multicolored fonts I've already given a clue as to where this monologue is headed. Let me say at the outset that I personally am not the least bit concerned that scientists will destroy the earth with the LHC or any other man made device, unless the LHC is used as sort of an anti-ark, in which case I suppose mankind would have a hand in it. But it wouldn't be by our choice. Besides, I have way too much confidence in scientist's abilities to believe they could do such a thing.

Since I'm not a scientist, I'll ask you to bear with me while I attempt to discuss the Big Bang.

Pretend with me for a moment that a big explosion occurred a long time ago. Bigger than any explosion known to man. And longer ago than any time known to man. The explosion was so big that even though it happened so long ago, it is still occurring (expanding universe). Now the LHC was conceived to try to recreate conditions that occurred just fractions of a second after the Big Bang detonator went off. If you're a believer in the Big Bang story, what do you think? Is this a good idea? I mean should we be trying to recreate conditions that haven't existed since the most explosive stages of the biggest explosion of the entire universe?

Regarding the long shot of the LHC creating black holes, given the payback should you strike it rich with this long shot, would you go for it?

And is it me or is that last sentence a bit disturbing? The use of the word "probably" is what haunts me.

I would like to give scientists a break and imagine that the reporter spoke with a non-scientist, like myself. In that case it would be entirely acceptable to speak of potential catastrophic consequences of playing with laws of physics that might place all of humanity at risk, for the sake of putting down once and for all this mythological notion of a Creator of the Universe.

Unlike me, my wife has a strong sense of justice. But even with my small desire to see the scales settle to level I think that credit should be given where credit is due. That's all I think most people of faith want in this issue of science versus faith. Give credit where credit is due.

Much has been learned and much good has been gained by scientists in their pursuit of the holy grail of a Godless universe. No one can deny that. But the day will come, and perhaps sooner than we imagine, that the community of science will realize that in their quest for pure scientific knowledge and truth, they have all the while been bumping into God Himself.

The Refuge

Eva started the journey back to her village. It wasn't easy trying to remember her way back as she hadn't been to this area of the forest before. Three days later she arrived and immediately began to gather friends to help her with her quest. They filled their trail packs with provisions for the trip and set out for the falls. She hoped she could remember her way there again. After a few wrong guesses and almost four days of hiking they arrived at the falls. Everyone was awestruck with the beauty of the cascading water falling into the increasingly dense mist below, near where they stood. They paused there to rest and eat. The climb to the top of the falls would require great strength and concentration. The misty, roaring air seemed filled with excitement.

Science - From the Latin "scientia", meaning knowledge.

Anti-evolutionists are considered by some to be "anti-science" individuals.

Do you think that, if there had been (and probably were), opponents of the development of the internal combustion engine, they would have been considered "anti-science" persons or heroes?

The point is not to slam internal combustion engines. I still love to hear the sound of a 68 Mustang and a Harley motorcycle.

The point is that the scientific community too easily forgets that it is oftentimes the very source of the development of technologies that have landed us in dire straits, i.e. climate change, in this example. So they need to lighten up when we are skeptical of them. They are not above making mistakes, even big ones.

While the opening scene of my new blog didn't evoke applause with the deafening sound of waterfalls, I was deeply gratified with the comments from a few of my fans. Speaking of waterfalls, I have a story to tell you...

Long ago in a country far, far away, there lived a woman adventurer named Eva Kaneeva. One day she was strolling through the forest and heard a faint roaring sound. She walked towards the sound and it grew louder with each step until, suddenly, she came into a clearing where she had the most breathtaking view of a huge waterfalls. She continued towards the falls and the cool mist felt refreshing on her face. She turned back to see that the clearing she had traversed was a small pocket of an area surrounded by the thick forest. She wondered how that area was a field of grass while everything else was forest. She turned again to face the falls and looked up to its source. She had to strain her neck as it was a very tall waterfall. Then she got an idea...

Scene 1

I love opening scenes. They're my favorite part of the movie. Like this one...

A low dull din of sound fills the expanse. An occasional whistle here, there, nearby again, distant again. Small firelights flickering near and far. Suddenly a shadow glides across the stage. The crowd erupts into a deafening waterfall of applause. The atmosphere is full of electricity. He steps up to the microphone and says...I always wanted to be a rock star...

Joni setup this blog site for me. She also chose the photos. She picked the blog site name and she helped me log on. Now that I have your confidence in my computer abilities, let me share a few thoughts on technology...

The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is a huge, approximately 17 mile long, circular tunnel. It accelerates two partical beams inside the tunnel in opposing directions and steers them into each other to create a collision of the two beams (actually four collisions from four intersecting points). This way scientists can study the collisions in hopes of proving the Big Bang theory (more on that later). The LHC cost about $10 Billion dollars. The average cost to feed a hungry person is about 25 cents a day. There are probably about 11 million child starvation deaths every year. We could prevent all of those deaths for almost 10 years with what was spent on the LHC.

First, a thank you to my beautiful wife, Joni. Thank you.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of technology. I love my new flat screen. The old technicolor movies (like Singing In the Rain) really come to life on that thing, even though one of my daughters swears there's no difference in the color. It's the arguing about it that I really like. I'm a huge fan.

The blog photo - A young me on the bow of the Martha Ann just weeks before we were to launch her from a long, upstate New York winter, dry-dock period of maritime refurbishing, back in, umm, 1975 ??? There I am, playing star again... This was definitely just prior to the days when I stood against the wind...OK, I'll stop. This photo would have been much more dramatic had the Martha Ann actually been in the water. But I took her for all she was worth while I had the chance by golly!

The blog name - Questrist - I like it. Sort of Shakespearean sounding, don't you think?