The End is Here

Well, Planet Earth and all of its living inhabitants, no one can say we didn't have a great time, am I right? Unfortunately, every party has to end some time and it looks like ours might do so (in rather spectacular form) today.

Say hello to the end of the world:

This is the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. This is how big it is:

Entirely underground, this single machine spans about 17 miles. It has been built by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, to crash tiny subatomic particles called hadrons into each other, using giant magnets, at just under the speed of the light. These particles will explode, theoretically creating 100,000 times more heat than the sun — though only for the smallest fraction of a second and on a far smaller scale (the area of the explosion will be about a billionth part of a speck of dust).

CERN scientists believe this could help them recreate conditions similar to the Big Bang, on a very miniaturized scale, thereby gaining a greater understanding of — well, everything. Terms that come up with the Large Hadron Collider tend to be pretty grandiose — discovery of the "God particle", for example, or the development of a legitimate "Theory of Everything".

So, theoretically that's what this thing will do.

Theoretically.

Thing is, they don't really know what it will do because they haven't actually tried it out yet. That's why other scientists have petitioned to halt the project. They fear turning this thing on could create a black hole. To which Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith of CERN replied, "The chance we produce a black hole is minuscule. ... Even if we do, it can't swallow up the Earth."

Although certainly intended to be comforting, the immediate cry heard round the scientific community was one of: "Wait, you mean there is a chance that this could create a BLACK HOLE???"

But efforts to stop the project didn't pan out. And today, Sept. 10, 2008, at some point between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central European Time (my time zone), they're going to turn it on.

I recommend spending the last hours of your life checking out these incredible photo essays of the Large Hadron Collider (here and here) and looking directly into the eyes of your imminent doom.

See you on the other side.



JEM

P.S. You can read more about the Large Hadron Collider all over the Interwebs, but since you don't have much time to sift through all that stuff, what with the end of the world and all, I'd recommend this in-depth National Geographic article. It explains all this business of God particles and Theories of Everything better than I can. Happy reading!