Large Hadron Collider to run at half-power until end of 2010
By Donald Melanson 
posted Aug 7th 2009 12:19PM
posted Aug 7th 2009 12:19PM
After a series of setbacks, delays, and potential world-ending mishaps, it seems that the scientists at CERN have decided to take it easy with the Large Hadron Collider, and have announced that they plan to operate it at an energy of 3.5 TeV (or trillion electron volts) per beam when they start it up again in November of this year. If that goes well, they'll then cautiously ramp things up to 5 TeV per beam, before starting to shoot for a full 7 TeV per beam by the end of 2010. So, mark your calendars... while you still can.
So, we'll only have a Half-Armageddon when it powers up?
Dang it, you beat me to it. I was going to say "Does that mean only half the universe is going to be destroyed?"
What do you wanna bet that this project gets delayed until December 21st 2012 as the first official day of running at full power?
12/21/2012 ? I'm pretty sure that's a reference to something, but I'm lost... anyone?
@Andrey - look up Mayan calendar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Doomsday_Prediction
Hmm..... well that sucks. Sure hope we all move to Mars by then.
It will only be able to produce half of a micro black hole, equivalent to 500 nano black holes.
No, it'll be a grey hole that wont suck as much.
rofl, that would be hilarious if the 12/21/12 prediction were made true by this gizmo blowing up the world.
humanity, the soon to be cosmic joke of the universe.
http://bit.ly/GY200
You mean they're not just going to keep slamming it on a full power anymore? I wonder why...
Because there are still interconnect problems that have to be addressed -- better safe than sorry, in this case.
When you're running beams that total ~700 megajoules (at full power) and magnet currents in the kiloamps -- you go carefully until all of the tens of thousands of magnet interconnections is validated.
The real problem with the Sept. 2008 run came from a 10 nano-ohm resistance in one of the interconnects. This is not a case of "slamming it on", or careless operation -- this is a machine full of unknowns. The initial run actually went unbelievably well, if you'll believe it.
Because 2010 is the half way point between 2008(when it was first powered up) and 2012 (its first and last full power run).
Nah, im betting they straight blow themselves up and nobody notices. Anyone want to put $10 on that?
im not taking that bet, USA only invested $531 million in that thing, the way the current administration throws money I'm pretty sure the president would say "Pff, chump change, we can build another basketball court in some ghetto somewhere and everyone will forget all about this or better yet, tell CNN to do a 32 hour special on how Michael Jackson's hair is still growing after his death!" rabble rabble rabble
Well not to get too political but, if the last administration threw around a little more money in the right places I may not have had to send out my guys to fight insurgents at night with no batteries for optics so...
When is full power ?
At 2012 ?
I was thinking the same thing....
2010 is the new 2012.
I also have a large hard on.
why do i always see that when i read the name? god they need to change it
Don't go sticking it near any black holes....
Heh. This is one piece of science news that I can't tell friends and family about. Every time I try, they always think I'm talking about gay porn.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't already a porno titled using this type of pun. I mean, have you seen Who's Nailin' Palin?
A little off topic but, does anyone else think that the name Michael Steele is kinda pornoesque? I kinda wish that was my real name or last name at least, I so would have stayed in the military and gotten my masters just so I could eventually have been Colonel Steele!
Anyone wanna see my large hard-on collide Her ???
come on now really can't we just push it back to december 2012
Agreed with you.
December 2012 is going to be a great month. Can't wait till everyone is proved wrong or we're all destroyed. Either one will make for an interesting Xmas conversation.
"while you still can" lolz
I love the doomsday humour associated with these stories.
This proves there is no 11 in France
Good heavens Miss Sakamoto, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!!
It is reassuring to see "that" fire extinguisher in place...
Could save the world dontchaknow, anything to beat off our up coming supreme leaders!
"beat off our up coming supreme leaders!" -please keep that beween you and the string of therapists that can't help you. :)
-name that reference!
I'd rather it be a crow bar.
Man, this thing is like the Duke Nukem Forever of particle accelerators.
This is the year of the Higg's Boson!
there will still be more delays until they finally fire it up in December 2012.....the end of everything!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's what annoys me the most: when the Earth is sucked into a black hole created by those masterminds, I will have no one to complain to... that is terrible thought. On the bright side, they say it is not going to hurt...
O NOES, BLACK HOLES THE SIZE OF AN ATOM IS GOING TO DESTROY US ALL!@#!@
That is what they said in quasar OJ287, where a black hole weighing the mass of 18 billion Suns has been formed by mad scientists, initially it too was the size of an atom... I am too young to die, please stop this madness, I do not want us to become OJ287+1=OJ288
Formed... by mad scientists? WTF? It's 4.5 billion light years away...
Trust me, we have nothing to worry about with the hadron collider.
Why would I trust YOU? You must be just another one of them, trying to defend your case, but when something bad happens then just say sorry... There are so many things in our universe that we do not understand yet and have to discover, there surely must be less dangerous ways than risking to blow up (in this base blow in) our Earth. Is there going to be a way back once you create back hole? it will be unstopable reaction like an atomic bomb, only it will consume everything rather than having limited local effect... although that is what we are in universe.. very limited and very local...
Would be nice to have some confirmation tiny 'black holes' are possible at all.
I'm sure they've gone through all the calculations to prevent a Resonance Cascade...
If they're not turned enough, doesn't that mean they don't have a large hadron? Perhaps it's for the best, though -- the thought of two large hadrons colliding doesn't turn me on in the slightest.
*facepalm* Large means the size of the thing, it's like 17 miles in diameter...
Hadrons are anything made of quarks, and in this case, protons. All they do is take hydrogen, take the electrons off, and then get them up to speed and smash 'em.