This Wednesday scientists will work to recreate the big bang

Originally Posted by Eschbach

PS: I also find it slightly annoying that CNN felt it was necessary to point out that there is a "rap video dedicated to this event on YouTube".

The video rocks, actually.

YouTube Video

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Rotorblade

Here we go.

Where do we go? What the hell is that?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Entering a black hole is absolutely my preferred method of death. Can you imagine how cool that would be? You don't even know. You might see the whole timeline of the universe pass you by.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by a lurker

It would be hard for you to see the timeline of the universe pass when your eyes have been deconstructed into their component parts.

When those component parts reach the singularity, they merge with the totality of information contained therein and achieve a transcendent form of consciousness.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by deadally

How do you think this kind of discovery might apply to computer-aided modeling, though? Does it help in any way, since they're still using mainly classical mechanics to deduce general movement (since systems like proteins are much too large for quantum mechanics). I suppose what I'm asking is how does this change the fundamentals further? Will the next generation learn that gravity is a force exerted by mass, or will they learn something else?

Don't they already learn that gravity is curvature in spacetime? Anyway, if you're interested in these things, there is a great thread over at SA by a guy working with the LHC. It's very interesting. Also, here's his response regarding your earlier question about quantum computing:

Quote:

As far as I am aware, no one is really looking into this with regards to the LHC. Quantum computing is making use of existing quantum theory. I guess if we find anything new it may have an impact on this, but the two subjects are a little different.

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Watch this shit live: Sky News Live

You won't see the black holes, but you can look at a room full of excited scientists.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Shin

Of course, he's retired and never published a paper in his life but he's the closest thing to a credible opponent of the project.

I think he has published a shitload of papers and several books. Of course, that doesn't mean he's credible in this issue. The continuation of that quote about the Indian Ocean is something about Armageddon and the Bible, so...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Animechanic

Can we get a youtube of the LHC rap interrupted by the Japanese "world destruction to funny music" clip?

Got a link to the world destruction clip?

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Eschbach

I wonder what it means to "discover other dimensions". I know very little about these theoretics and the definition of what exactly a dimension is escapes me.

I doubt very much that they're talking about finding another level of existence or conciousness but rather a position in space in time.

What eludes me is what "other dimensions" they're hoping to discover.

Existence of extra dimensions is predicted by the string theory. The string theory is one proposed 'theory of everything'; a theory that would unite the going-ons of the smallest scales (quantum mechanics) with the macroscopic scales (general relativity). It's the Holy Grail of physics today, and without such a theory we can't explain what happens when a lot of matter is packed in a very small space − the singularity of a black hole or the beginning of the big bang (hence the reference in this thread's title, I assume).

String theory says that the smallest building blocks of everything are little 'strings' (around the Planck lenght or 1.6 × 10-35 m) that can vibrate in different ways. Depending on the manner of vibration they can manifest themselves as different elementary particles, like photons (light) or quarks, which combine to form protons, which combine with neutrons to create atoms, which create macroscopic stuff that we know.

Now about dimensions. Here is an illustration, courtesy of professor Richard Wolfson:



In the upper part, you are looking from afar, and you see an ant that appears to be able to travel on a stem in one dimension only. When you move in close enough, you see that there is actually another dimension. That dimension is 'curled up on itself', in a kind of sphere. You couldn't see it before, because you were looking from a great distance.

Now, remember that these strings in the string theory are small as fuck. They operate at Planck length, the smallest physically possible length. What if there are more dimensions curled up there, and we simply aren't close enough to that tiny scale for them to have any effect on us? Of course, we can't really imagine another dimension very well, so to us it's just extremely complex mathematics, but for subatomic particles created by the strings, like the protons that they will be colliding in LHC, it may be a different story. It's also theorised that the hypothetical graviton particle, which supposedly 'carries' gravity, 'leaks' into these curled-up dimensions (since it's small enough to access them), which is why gravity is such a weak force and only becomes considerable when dealing with massive objects like planets.

I know this is not very clear. Since I don't really know what I'm talking about, I can't explain it very well, but hopefully this gives you at least some idea.

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Is that where it is originally from? I haven't read that book, so I only knew the image from Wolfson's series of lectures, where he uses it when talking about this stuff.

Jam it back in, in the dark.