One of the big fears related at the time of the development of the Large Hadron Collider was that the giant atom smasher, located deep beneath Geneva, Switzerland, would eventually lead to the destruction of life as we know it.  After all, the LHC is designed to simulate the events that lead to the creation of the universe, and that resulted in a pretty big, universe-changing explosion.  Why tempt fate, the Luddites asked?  Well, not only has the LHC been fired up, the Large Hadron Collider has successfully recreated miniature versions of the Big Bang, and we’re still here.

“We are thrilled with the achievement.  The collisions generated mini Big Bangs and the highest temperatures and densities ever achieved in an experiment,” said Dr. David Evans of the University of Birmingham.  “This process took place in a safe, controlled environment generating incredibly hot and dense subatomic fireballs with temperatures of over ten trillion degrees – a million times hotter than the center of the Sun.”

That super-heated environment melts protons and neutrons into a dense soup called Quark-Gluon Plasma, which is one of the building blocks of the universe.  Scientists hoping that by studying this neutrino soup they can learn more about the so-called Strong Force, one of the four fundamental forces that caused the creation of what we know today as the universe.  It has already been used to develop a new element.

Tags: science, weird science, LHC, Large Hadron Collider, CERN, Large Hadron Collider making mini Big Bangs, the Big Bang, Big Bang recreated, lead ions, David Evans, University of Birmingham, Quark-Gluon Plasma, Strong Force

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