Nerds, geeks, and scientists all over the world are celebrating. Today was the day the Large Hadron Collider powered up. That 17 mile, $8.9 billion dollar particle accelerator on the border between France and Switzerland is causing quite a stir among scientists. The purpose is to recreate the conditions that existed shortly after the "Big Bang". In the process, they hope to find the Higgs Boson or "God particle" that is responsible giving matter mass. They also hope to gain insight in to dark matter which theoretically makes up most of the universe.
Of course scientific advancement has its downside. There is a chance that the LHC could cause black holes to form in the center of the earth and rip it apart. For more information, read here and here
So what does the Chemist think? Most of the physics is way over my head. I don't believe in the Big Bang Hypothesis (it ain't a theory). But even if I did, how could one recreate an event that was unobserved. By definition, science must be observable and repeatable. Any ideas about the origin of the universe must therefore fall outside the realm of science and land squarely in the realm of belief. The world will end when and how God decides with or without the Large Hadron Collider.
Aside from any religious implications, the science is very cool and the science nerd in me can't help but smile. In the spirit of making science fun--please enjoy.
I am always amazed by the experiments that scientists can find to do!
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