The Third Apocalyptic Friday

Hello scientists!

I'll get right to the point. We've all seen or heard those movies or conspiracy theroies about the Large Hadron Collider (or LHC) creating a black hole that will destory the Earth. Will it? Let's find out.

First of all, what is the LHC? The Large Hadron Collider is, in its simplest, two pipes shaped like an enormous circle underground. Two small things, such as atoms, are sped down these tubes in opposite directions near the speed of light. When scientists want to, they make one particle move to the other pipe, smashing them together with enormous force, seperating the atoms into its simpliest parts, useful for research. It has a 17 mile diameter and looks like this if it was aboveground:

We're worried about the atoms creating enough energy to kill off the Earth via black hole. First of all, let's make sure there's enough energy to create one.

Let's make something clear first. Atoms almost never actually touch. If you're sitting down right now, magnetic forces in between atoms repel each other, making a microscopic space between you and the chair you're sitting on. However, this isn't the case with the LHC. The atoms collide at almost twice the speed of light, forcing them closer than they usually get. The tiny force of gravity between the atoms then pulls them together and make them physically touch. This gives off much more energy than expected: enough to make a black hole.

So we can make a black hole (although it's an incredibly tiny one). Not a great start. Luckily, the man Stephan Hawking came to the rescue. He calculated that black holes give off radiation. If the black hole is too small, it overexerts itself by releasing too much radiation for its size and evaporates. We have a microscopic black hole; is that small enough? Well, the smallest possible stable black hole is about three times bigger than our Sun. So any black holes would dissipate if LHC made one, unless you want to question a widely accepted theory proposed by Steven Hawking. Only an idiot would do that

But we are idiots on this blog, so let's question it anyway. What would happen if one somehow stayed alive? Well, the energy made by the atomic collision was so strong that it would probably propel the black hole away from Earth and into space. About one out of one million black holes would be moving slowly enough to hang on to Earth's atmosphere.

What then, in case I somehow haven't assured you enough? Well, as gravity pulls things toward Earth's center, the black hole would obviously go to Earth's center. There it would stay, picking Earth away at a rate of a proton every 4 days. By the end of the universe's life, it will have only consumed a few milligrams of the inner core.

So there you have it. The Earth will lose .00000000000000000000002 pounds in your lifetime, but only in a one in a million chance, and only if Steven Hawking is wrong, and only if scientists at the LHC aren't careful. And they are.

Thanks for reading! Also, I always say this causally, but I really want to thank John from John's Math Blog for a shout-out to my blog. I will return the favor, but not because I owe him one, but because it's actually really interesting. If you like my stuff, you'll probably like what he has to say as well. Anyway, make sure to comment below, and I'll see you in the next post!

Until next time,
Ben's jamin'
Benjamin