Is THIS the End of the World?

With the switch on of the 'Big Bang' experiment in Switzerland being heralded by some as the end of the world, we're all wondering exactly what it is they're up to.  Find out below...

Where's the big experiment taking place?

At the foot of the Jura Mountains, where Switzerland meets France, is a vast laboratory belonging to Cern, the European Centre for Nuclear Research. The lab lies one hundred metres below ground and is a 27km-long ring containing more than 1,000 magnets arranged end to end round the tunnel.

What is the big bang experiment?

The current experiment being run at Cern is aiming to recreate the conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang.  This is being done using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which will smash two beams of particles head-on at super-fast speeds.

What do the scientists hope to achieve?

Scientists hope to see new particles in the debris of these collisions, revealing fundamental new insights into the nature of the cosmos.

Current observations suggest ordinary matter - such as the galaxies, gas, stars and planets - makes up just 4% of the Universe.  The rest is made of dark matter (23%) and dark energy (73%). Physicists think the current experiment could provide clues about the nature of this mysterious "dark stuff". 
 
How will the experiment be conducted?

At points around the tunnel, the beams will cross paths, smashing together near four massive "detectors" that monitor the collisions for interesting events.

There are 4 detectors, each aiming to discover new information:

ATLAS Detector - Atlas will be used to look for signs of new physics, including the origins of mass and extra dimensions

CMS Detector - the second general purpose detector will look for clues to the nature of dark matter

ALICE Detector - will study a "liquid" form of matter called quark-gluon plasma that existed shortly after the Big Bang

LHCb Detector - Equal amounts of matter and anti-matter were created in the Big Bang. LHCb will try to investigate what happened to the "missing" anti-matter

Scientists are hoping that new sub-atomic particles will emerge, revealing fundamental insights into the nature of the cosmos.

Is it a safe experiment?

There are many stories circulating that the experiment might threaten the Earth's very existence. This is extremely unlikely to happen on two counts:

Firstly the energy is the same as a mosquito flying into you
It's a bit of a misnomer to call the collisions mini-Big Bangs - each one has the energy of a mosquito hitting you in the face on a summer's day, albeit confined to a very small space!

Secondly black holes are unlikely to be created
It's just possible that we could create mini-black holes, although this would require at least that there are extra dimensions in our Universe, for which we have no evidence!

If, however, we did, then the little black holes would bear no relation at all to the black holes created when stars collapse. They would evaporate away very quickly via a process called Hawking radiation.

But what WOULD you do if these were your last minutes on earth?

All's well of course, but do tell us what YOU might do in your final minutes. Click here to join our forum discussion.