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Oskar

Oskar

United Kingdom
February 2005

MAR 21, 2005 10:33 AM

Danger Will Robinson! Yes, a black hole has been artifically created on our lovely planet Earth. No worries, this technological instance was only sustained for a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second.

When the gold nuclei smash into each other they are broken down into particles called quarks and gluons.

These form a ball of plasma about 300 times hotter than the surface of the Sun. This fireball, which lasts just 10 million, billion, billionths of a second, can be detected because it absorbs jets of particles produced by the beam collisions.

But Nastase, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, says there is something unusual about it.

Ten times as many jets were being absorbed by the fireball as were predicted by calculations.

The Brown researcher thinks the particles are disappearing into the fireball's core and reappearing as thermal radiation, just as matter is thought to fall into a black hole and come out as "Hawking" radiation.


The good news is that now perhaps scientists can study this black hole to find where my left socks keep disappearing to.

FrankMask

FrankMask

Saint Paul, MN
June 2003

MAR 21, 2005 10:40 AM

Science - I don't understand it, but it still makes me feel warm, fuzzy, and slightly sterile.

Snottlebocket

Snottlebocket

Netherlands
March 2004

MAR 21, 2005 10:45 AM

isn't this where Otto Octavius fucked up?

zyryx

zyryx

Tyler, TX
April 2004

MAR 21, 2005 10:48 AM

interesting, but I couldn't understand it from so little info in the article. so I found this. a much better place to start.

SomeOneUK

SomeOneUK

United Kingdom
June 2004

MAR 21, 2005 10:52 AM

"million, billion, billionths of a second" I love that.

druhol

druhol

Loomis, CA
January 2004

MAR 21, 2005 10:54 AM

Snottlebocket said:
isn't this where Otto Octavius fucked up?



Nah, that was cold fusion.

naja_haje

naja_haje

Portland, OR
March 2003

MAR 21, 2005 11:08 AM

Holy shit, David Brin's Earth is becoming more and more true everyday.

lunchbox

lunchbox

Richmond, MA
March 2005

MAR 21, 2005 11:09 AM

Really too bad about those Jets being asorbed my the fireball, looked like they were gonna be a pretty good team next year.

AndrewB

AndrewB

Victoria, BC
August 2003

MAR 21, 2005 11:20 AM

What if it lasted longer and sucked us all in! ... Yeah I'm talking out of my ass.

That is really interesting though smile Science rules!

freshprncebelair

freshprncebelair

Ellicott City, MD
June 2004

MAR 21, 2005 11:37 AM

I for one welcome our new Earth-devouring black-hole overlords

JonnyJonnyH

JonnyJonnyH

Seattle, WA
June 2003

MAR 21, 2005 11:37 AM

I call it a Fry Hole.

freshprncebelair

freshprncebelair

Ellicott City, MD
June 2004

MAR 21, 2005 11:41 AM

Snottlebocket said:
isn't this where Otto Octavius fucked up?



This is different. This is (theoretically) a black hole, which would have the potential to suck in all matter around it.

So if it were stable, and could "live" outside the carefully constructed environment we created, it would sink to the center of the Earth, absorbing all matter it touches, and would eventually swallow Earth. I believe it would then start gravitating toward the Sun, and suck that in.

If I were going t try to destroy the world...i would use this method...it's definitely the coolest way to do it.

freshprncebelair

freshprncebelair

Ellicott City, MD
June 2004

MAR 21, 2005 11:42 AM

ankiel66 said:
I call it a Fry Hole.



I deem it a Hawking Hole!

Who are they gonna believe?

NewSpectre

NewSpectre

Baltimore, MD
March 2005

MAR 21, 2005 12:07 PM

Cool ARRR!!!

rma28

rma28

Waite Park, MN
August 2003

MAR 21, 2005 12:13 PM

I sort of like the idea behind particle accelerators:
"We're trying to test the most advanced, cutting-edge ideas out there. Any ideas?"
"Let's do it by banging things together really hard."

Hey...it worked for fire. ooo aaa
(and I realize it's slightly more complicated than that)

TonyTails

TonyTails

Calgary, AB
December 2003

MAR 21, 2005 12:15 PM

skankzor said:
So if it were stable, and could "live" outside the carefully constructed environment we created, it would sink to the center of the Earth, absorbing all matter it touches, and would eventually swallow Earth. I believe it would then start gravitating toward the Sun, and suck that in.



No. The black hole would have pretty close to the same mass as Earth (minus whatever got belched away in the feeding frenzy), and remain in the same orbit around the sun.

[Edited on Mar 21, 2005 12:17PM]

hermetica

hermetica

Cook Islands
January 2004

MAR 21, 2005 12:26 PM

*Keeps waiting for smartass comments about the NYC municipal budget, the Lincoln tunnel, the WTC site, or the Bronx*

MagnaDolce

MagnaDolce

Portland, ME
January 2004

MAR 21, 2005 12:31 PM

Well, I have been working on my FLUX CAPACITOR. Call me Emmitt Brown.

FunkySkunk

FunkySkunk

Gainesville, FL
July 2004

MAR 21, 2005 12:53 PM

"Suddenly, through forces not yet fully understood, Darren Belsky's apartment became the center of a new black hole."

zyryx

zyryx

Tyler, TX
April 2004

MAR 21, 2005 01:04 PM

if you would bother to follow the link I provided... this is NOT a black hole, it's the analog of a black hole. it CAN NOT grow by absorbing more matter.

This imaginary, mathematical black hole that Horatiu compares to the RHIC fireball is completely different from a black hole in the real universe; in particular, it cannot grow by gobbling up matter. In other words, and because the amount of matter created at RHIC is so tiny, RHIC does not, and cannot possibly, produce a true, star-swallowing black hole.



for info on other disaster scenarios follow that link.

zyryx

zyryx

Tyler, TX
April 2004

MAR 21, 2005 01:20 PM

TonyTails said:

skankzor said:
So if it were stable, and could "live" outside the carefully constructed environment we created, it would sink to the center of the Earth, absorbing all matter it touches, and would eventually swallow Earth. I believe it would then start gravitating toward the Sun, and suck that in.



No. The black hole would have pretty close to the same mass as Earth (minus whatever got belched away in the feeding frenzy), and remain in the same orbit around the sun.

[Edited on Mar 21, 2005 12:17PM]




actually, no. after a large star novas, the remaining matter collapses into a neutron star. if the mass of the neutron star is more than about 2 solar masses (a solar mass is the mass of the sun) it will continue to collapse until it becomes a black hole. so if they did create a stable "black hole" and it did sink to the middle of the earth, and then sucked in ever bit of the matter of the earth, it still would not have the mass needed to form a black hole.

Carmady

Carmady

United Kingdom
January 2005

MAR 21, 2005 02:23 PM

I love gluons - snappy and they do exactly what it says on the tin biggrin

MrStitches

MrStitches

Brooklyn, NY
November 2003

MAR 21, 2005 02:33 PM

I've been to that particle accelerator. RHIC. On a high school field trip.
My physics teacher got a real kick out of it becase his name is Rick.

If only it had been big enough to suck in the rest of long island frown

Carmady

Carmady

United Kingdom
January 2005

MAR 21, 2005 02:50 PM

Sportbikepilot said:
<snipped>
No. The black hole would have pretty close to the same mass as Earth (minus whatever got belched away in the feeding frenzy), and remain in the same orbit around the sun.

[Edited on Mar 21, 2005 12:17PM]


<snipped>
so if they did create a stable "black hole" and it did sink to the middle of the earth, and then sucked in ever bit of the matter of the earth, it still would not have the mass needed to form a black hole.

Aren't they creating a diddy black hole to begin with though? Which, if it could suck in Earth matter would leave a phenomenon smaller & denser than Earth, representing a greater distortion in space-time (doing my visualisation of space-time as a big rubber mat here :blushsmile, either pushing the hole out of an Earth-like orbit or eventually mucking up the orbits of other planets when they passed close by. Maybe. ?

As you can tell, I's no physicist!

Luis

Luis

Preston, ID
February 2004

MAR 21, 2005 03:03 PM

Holy fuck, that is awesome. Sounds like something out of a Douglas Adams book.

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