I need some ideas for a sci-fi essay related to the accident of a LHC.

[Chaste]

Hi all,

I'm writing a sci-fi story for a competition, are there any more realistic ideas of what accident can LHC cause that has massive impact on the whole earth?

currently, my idea is the formation of massive black holes from quantum ones which led to the Earth being swallowed. How feasible is this?

or are there more logical accidents?

 

[Kevin_Axion]

The formation of micro-black holes is feasible as theories suggest, but extremely unlikely. For the formation of micro-black holes you need a specific energy density that exceeds 14TeV, but theory isn't entirely precise therefore many of these concepts can't be discounted. If a formation of a micro-black hole were to occur, according to Stephen Hawking black holes should evaporate through the emission of Hawking Radiation with a temperature of: T=\frac{\hbar c^3}{8\pi G M k_B}. I know the equations look useless but one can realize the beauty of how a single equation, one inch long, defies the illogic of most of society. Anyways some other ideas you can explore are strangelets, which are also extremely unlikely:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangelet#Dangers. Also you can use Q-balls, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ball, these are objects that can cause celestial disturbances for instance in the movie Sunshine (2007). I recommend you watch this movie for some encouragement as this is a story involving catastrophe with some interwoven science.

 

[JustinLevy]

Here's what popped into my head when I read your title:

There is this idea regarding the higgs (there's actually an arxiv paper I think, but I just grabbed the first thing google gave me on this)
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/10/is-a-time-travelling-higgs-sab.html

Roughly: the Higgs particle is so "abhorred" by nature, that nature essentially will do astronomically improbable things to prevent its creation. To make the idea subject to the "scientific method" a scientist suggested the following experiment: when the LHC is all ready to go: have a random number generator produce a huge random string, and decide ahead of time a particular number that means no scientist will flip the "on" switch for particle collisions. If the number repeatedly gets chosen beyond all statistical reasonability, it is a scientific test of this idea.

Now, for even more fun, after this was suggested, this happenned (which is why this popped in my head from "accident at the LHC"):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/06/cern-big-bang-goes-phut
the most ridiculous way to shut down the LHC!
(again, first thing google gave, I didn't even read it. So there may be a better source)



So now add in some "extrapolation" and fiction. There are so many options! And using real news to get it started will be fun for those that are unknowning start to look into it.

Example extrapolation and fiction practically "madlibs" style!
A scientist starts to take the joking idea very seriously, but feels he can't tell anyone for fear of being laughed at. He starts doing little experiments like: "i'll sabotage this, if and only if such and such happens" ... it keeps happenning. Eventually he realizes he can use this machine, and this property of it, to essentially make his own wish granting machine!

He starts small at first, not sure how high in "unlikelyness" for each wish he can actually make. Eventually people start getting hint that he is a saboture (but they don't know the reason why) so in the background you can also have a great crime investigation and cover up story going.

Culminating to ... a conspiracy theory that the government _knew_ this would become a wish granting machine. So some government spies know what he's up to (more than just sabotaging) and come after him.

Final twist ... his life is becoming ruined, and he's getting cornered in his options. So he makes the final wish that there is peace on Earth and all will be forgiven. The irony is that this is too unlikely ... the event doesn't happen, so while he waits to do the sabotage, the particle collisions go on and a higgs particle actually is created ... then nature destroys the Earth to get rid of it.

The end.

 

[Chaste]

The formation of micro-black holes is feasible as theories suggest, but extremely unlikely. For the formation of micro-black holes you need a specific energy density that exceeds 14TeV, but theory isn't entirely precise therefore many of these concepts can't be discounted. If a formation of a micro-black hole were to occur, according to Stephen Hawking black holes should evaporate through the emission of Hawking Radiation with a temperature of: T=\frac{\hbar c^3}{8\pi G M k_B}. I know the equations look useless but one can realize the beauty of how a single equation, one inch long, defies the illogic of most of society. Anyways some other ideas you can explore are strangelets, which are also extremely unlikely:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangelet#Dangers. Also you can use Q-balls, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ball, these are objects that can cause celestial disturbances for instance in the movie Sunshine (2007). I recommend you watch this movie for some encouragement as this is a story involving catastrophe with some interwoven science.

Thanks! I will look into this now. Anyway, I'm planning to include in parenthesis or footnotes the feasbility of the Sci-fi. It's Sci fi after all. An interesting story prevails over facts. :)

 

[DaveC426913]

The LHC forming black holes and jeopardizing the world is a cliche and is rife with very strong pre-existing opinions. Your story will be compared with every reader's pet opinion of the issue, and will come up wanting.

An interesting sci-fi story about an LHC accident should tell a new story.

I don't have much in the way of alternative, except for Robert J. Sawyer's Flash Forward. Not the TV show, the book. In the book, it was a particle accelerator that caused everyone in the world to see the world many years in their own future.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

As stated above Robert J. Sawyer is an excellent example of science-fiction creativity. Quite interestingly he lives in my city, I doubt I'd be able to ask him any questions though. I haven't read the book but the television show was interesting, but it was ultimately cancelled, the plot was diffuse and wasn't really going anywhere.

 

[DaveC426913]

As stated above Robert J. Sawyer is an excellent example of science-fiction creativity.

Yes. I like to say of him: His stories start with their premise where most other author's stories end.

Quite interestingly he lives in my city,

Mine too. I've run into him twice by accident at theatres.

I doubt I'd be able to ask him any questions though. I haven't read the book but the television show was interesting, but it was ultimately cancelled, the plot was diffuse and wasn't really going anywhere.

I was really dissapointed with the show. It barely paid lip service to the premise before getting lost in the soap opera of the characters' lives. It has changed my TV viewing - I now see how often this occurs in most new shows.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

Where exactly is that? Do you live in Mississauga?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Um...shouldn't this be your own idea and not ours?

In any event, you're going to have a uphill battle - not only is DaveC right in post #5, the fact of the matter is that the LHC has been operating for months and the world hasn't ended. I'm afraid this premise is yawnmaking.

 

[DaveC426913]

Where exactly is that? Do you live in Mississauga?

When I tell non-Ontarians "I live in Etobicoke", I get blank stares. So I say "right next to Mississauga" and the blankness turns into knowing nods.

 

[DaveC426913]

I once wrote a short story (a decade before LHC's baby black holes, so there) in which a machine was made that explored energies so high that it could recreate the conditions wherein the 4 fundamental forces of nature were once again unified. Of course, the last time that occurred in the universe's history was at the Big Bang.

When they flipped the switch they discovered that cause>effect was synonymous with effect=cause, and things went very south very quickly. Bye bye universe.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

I know where Etobicoke is, it's equidistant from Mississauga and Toronto.

 

[Bob S]

Here is something that is more likely than black holes, but could (depending on exact LHC design) cause an airplane disaster.

First, The Fermilab Tevatron is wired so that the main dipole bus, carrying up to 4000 amps, folds back on itself so as not to form a 6.28-Km-circumference, 4000 amp dipole field. Under certain quench bypass conditions, this current could be shunted into a 6.28-Km-circumference dipole.

Suppose the LHC were wired the same way, and under certain conditions the 11,800-amp main dipole current were switched into a 26-Km circumference dipole. The main Geneva airport is only about 8 Km from CERN. What impact could such a magnetic dipole have on aircraft approaching the Geneva airport (sci-fi, of course)?

Before you say this is impossible, remember the following. The LHC was off for over a year repairing a serious accident, due to a design flaw in the main dipole conductor, that occurred after only about 9 days of running.

(I don't believe this could happen, but...)

Bob S

 

[DaveC426913]

I know where Etobicoke is, it's equidistant from Mississauga and Toronto.

Actually, it is part of Toronto. We miss being our own city.

 

[Kevin_Axion]

Correct, it's municipality was dissolved.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Before you say this is impossible, remember the following. The LHC was off for over a year repairing a serious accident, due to a design flaw in the main dipole conductor, that occurred after only about 9 days of running

It's impossible. Look at the cross-section of the LHC two-in-one dipole design, and in particular the direction the field circulates.

 

[Bob S]

It's impossible. Look at the cross-section of the LHC two-in-one dipole design, and in particular the direction the field circulates.

In the LHC, the two apertures inside the 2-in-1 cold-iron assemblies share the same magnetic field in the iron, so the currents in the two dipole coils must be identically the same at all times. This could not be done if one aperture was on one bus, and the other aperture on the return bus, because each bus is part of a LC transmission line (dipole series inductance plus coil capacitance to ground), and the transmission line propagation delay of error and offset currents during ramping would cause the currents in the two apertures to be different at any instant in time. So the two dipole coils in each cold-iron assembly are in series, and the return bus runs back along the outside of the cold iron.

Remember, on September 10, 2008, the LHC started up with great expectations of collecting many inverse picobarns of data. No one would have believed that 9 days later a magnet bus failure would shut the machine down for over a year. A magnet bus failure leading to a 26-Km circumference dipole loop carrying 12,000 amps is nearly impossible, but much more likely than creating micro black holes. In sci-fi, nearly anything can happen.

Bob S

 

[Chaste]

Thanks guys for your comment. I do agree that black holes creation via LHC can be quite cliche. I need ideas because I'm a laymen to all the technical details that you all have stated and I don't even know where to start asking. Anyway, it's just for interest sake that I'm partaking in this competition. Will reply again if I happen to understand and know how to expound on an idea you guys offered. Thanks!

 

[DaveC426913]

Thanks guys for your comment. I do agree that black holes creation via LHC can be quite cliche. I need ideas because I'm a laymen to all the technical details that you all have stated and I don't even know where to start asking. Anyway, it's just for interest sake that I'm partaking in this competition. Will reply again if I happen to understand and know how to expound on an idea you guys offered. Thanks!

This isn't for NaNoWriMo is it? Just curious.