Today's documentary is about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC): the world's largest and highest energy particle accelerator, not to mention the most expensive experimental instrument ever designed. The idea behind this accelerator is that by recreating the conditions found right after the Big Bang, scientists should be able to measure and observe (for the first time) elusive particles such as the Higgs Boson (if, in fact, it exists), the observation of which could confirm or refute the current physics paradigm.If the existence of the Higgs Boson particle is confirmed, it could further explain how subatomic particles acquire mass -a question so basic that it hardly seems worth asking, until you realize that no one really has any idea how this happens. Other items of research will relate to supersymmetric partners, anti-matter and anti-energy, multiple dimensions, string theory, why gravity is such a weak force compared to the other three fundamental forces, etc. The combination of these and other related findings should also help us come closer to the long sought-after dream of finding a unifying theory of everything.
Oh yeah, did I mention that the LHC can potentially create small black holes?
I'll post a video soon about the dangers and probability of creating a black hole here on Earth. Will we be swallowed by it? Stay tuned and find out...
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