Reading blog 1/18/09

On BBC News online, I was reading an article about the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) called Not The End Of The World by BBC News online editor Dr David Whitehouse. Many scientists are having fears of the effects of what the RHIC can do, one major concern is it causing something not seen since the Big-Bang. The effect most are worried about is the RHIC causing a black hole that could devour the earth in less than 72 hours. Dr David explains the process as "the RHIC takes atoms of gold and swings them around two 3.8 kilometre (2.4 mile) circular tubes where powerful magnets accelerate them to almost the speed of light. When they collide, they do so in minute collisions that are 10,000 times hotter than the Sun." Even though the fears seem to be real, many say that they are too far-fetched. Physicist experts have been asked to produce a single comprehensive report on the safety of each of the speculative disaster scenarios, or things that could possibly go wrong. That list will be posted on BBC's website within the next couple of months before they fire of the RHIC to decide what they will do with it. Hopefully, everything will work out fine.