Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Skyguy on 09/09/2008 08:23:55

Title: Mass of Micro-Black Holes from the LHC
Post by: Skyguy on 09/09/2008 08:23:55

I discovered The Naked Scientists last year and have been an avid listener since then.  Today I thought it was time to post a question that has been in my mind.

There is nothing like an exciting new science experiment and an excess of secular/religious crazies in the general population to get Science back on the front pages for a while.

The LHC is about to go online on Wednesday and I've seen a tonne of garbage about how it might bring about the apocalypse by creating micro-black holes.

I am not in any way concerned that the people at CERN will create mini-black holes that will destroy the Earth and the universe…  If it were likely, cosmic rays striking our atmosphere would have done so long, long ago.

In the unlikely event we are fortunate to see evidence of a micro-black hole from the LHC…:

A)  What will it’s temperature be?
B)  What will it’s mass be?
C)  In nano or femto seconds, how long will it last?
D)  When it does decay, what sort of particles would be observed?

And lastly...  In 1897, it is doubtful your average Joe could even vaguely foresee what the value would be in knowing what the heck an electron was.  But can anyone here make some educated guesses at what practical marvels might come out of this new era of physics exploration??

Thanks!

Title: Mass of Micro-Black Holes from the LHC
Post by: syhprum on 09/09/2008 18:03:58

There is an excelent calculator published on this site, assuming the maximum mass of any black hole created would correspond to the energy of two colliding Protons i.e 14Tev then A,B,C are easily evaluated.
"D" I believe would be Muons but there are wiser heads on the board that probably know better.
 
http://xaonon.dyndns.org/hawking/

Title: Mass of Micro-Black Holes from the LHC
Post by: Skyguy on 10/09/2008 03:45:36

Excellent link.  Thank you!