Is the CERN particle accelerator risking a phase change in the Universe?

[ptalar]

Phase Change of the Universe??

I was listening to Coast to Coast radio this morning on the way to work and they had some scientist on who was saying that the when the CERN particle accelerator is turned on in November 2007 one of its main goals is to find the Higgs Boson particle.

However, he went on to say that some scientists fear that when we do this we may cause a phase change in the Universe since we are trying to approximate the conditions an instant after the big bang. Apparently, at the energy levels the accelerator will see, it may cause a chain reaction type event. Although a low probability he said it is still a risk because we are going into uncharted waters.

The scientist went on to say that we would not even know it happened because we would die instantly as the Universe instantly changed.

This is the first time I heard of this concern. Any thoughts?

 

[Arithus]

WTF?

These sort of experiments have been going on for a while now. Nothing crazy has happened thus far.

 

[ptalar]

WTF?

These sort of experiments have been going on for a while now. Nothing crazy has happened thus far.

Ok. I was just curious and this was the first time I had heard that any experiments we are doing had those kinds of risks.

Thanks,

Phil

 

[DaveC426913]

WTF?

These sort of experiments have been going on for a while now. Nothing crazy has happened thus far.

Well I don't know about you, but I really miss the comfort of the purple shine of the star field against the greenness of deep space.

Ever since that experiment last year, all we get is this ugly white stars against a ... what would you call that? ... black? ... background.

 

[selfAdjoint]

And where oh where has our beloved flying spaghetti monster gone?

 

[ptalar]

And where oh where has our beloved flying spaghetti monster gone?

Yes Yes Yes. And I believe in Santa Claus.

I was just asking a dumb question. You would be surprised how many problems get solved by asking dumb questions.

I was interested in what the experts thought and now I know.

 

[SpaceTiger]

No, we're not in danger. Alarmists are much better off looking to our politicians than our particle accelerators. Let's not take this any further.