WHAT EXPERTS SAY
The following was posted by a physicist at the Misunderstood Universe website:
Let me see if I understand this right. The Black hole is supposed to last 1e-27s and would take a minimum of 1e-10s to reach the vessel walls. That implies a vessel of about 30cm in radius (about 2 feet in diameter).
How certain are you of Hawking's theory and what is your confidence on that first number?? What if a steering magnet fails and the beam collision occurs a few centimeters off axis? What if the mass is a little higher than expected and the hole doesn't evaporate for 1e-11s? How good is your vacuum? Maybe it picks up just enough mass to fall out of the chamber before "evaporating"? Well I really hope that the CERN guys are right and I am wrong, because the whole thing looks pretty scary to me, and I am a Physicist. Way too many "maybe”s for my comfort level. If I were Alfred E. Neuman I'd say "Yes, me worry!!"
If it were up to me I'd tell them if you want to play with Black Holes then go play outside (of the solar system!!!) They're toying with over six billion human lives, plus a lot more nonhuman ones. Unfortunately, I don't have the clout to put a stop to this insanity.
Posted by Teresa E Tutt, Ph.D. www.MisunderstoodUniverse.com| 8/12/07 5:06 PM
http://www.misunderstooduniverse.com/France_Builds_Doomsday_Machine.htm