They're gonna start up the collider again

[Sean]

what if the standard model is not correct though... if the LHC has been developed towards proving or disproving a particular model then the results could be totally inconclusive at best if the the standard model totally off.

That's almost as good. That's how science works. You modify the theory to take into account the new results. And the LHC isn't just going to be looking for the Higgs, at the sort of GeV that it can pull, there are all sorts of experiments it can be used for.

 

[where]

That's almost as good. That's how science works. You modify the theory to take into account the new results. And the LHC isn't just going to be looking for the Higgs, at the sort of GeV that it can pull, there are all sorts of experiments it can be used for.

but if the standard model is totally off then the experiment would be the wrong one. given you create the experiment to test the hypothesis on the basis that the hypothesis has some validity in the first place then if the hypothesis (ie the standard model) in fact has no validity then it renders the experiment useless. ok, you might learn other stuff but stuff that could have been tested more efficiently and reliably.

 

[SuprSalor]

Enough! Start your whore swallowing machine now!

 

[Sean]

but if the standard model is totally off then the experiment would be the wrong one. given you create the experiment to test the hypothesis on the basis that the hypothesis has some validity in the first place then if the hypothesis (ie the standard model) in fact has no validity then it renders the experiment useless. ok, you might learn other stuff but stuff that could have been tested more efficiently and reliably.

No, the only way to test it was to build a collider capable of the energy levels of the LHC. And the standard model isn't totally off, enough observations have been made to show that already.

 

[where]

No, the only way to test it was to build a collider capable of the energy levels of the LHC. And the standard model isn't totally off, enough observations have been made to show that already.

well you know about this stuff. I'm blaming you if I get swallowed up by a black hole though.

 

[JohnnySavage]

With respect to the results of the collision - how do you build a detector to detect something too small to be detected?

 

[JohnnySavage]

And another thing: If the things whirling around inside that tube are smaller than an atom, how come they won't smash into an atom on the way to the collision site?

 

[Sean]

And another thing: If the things whirling around inside that tube are smaller than an atom, how come they won't smash into an atom on the way to the collision site?

Hard vacuum in the tube. It's emptier in there than it is in deep space.

 

[Sean]

With respect to the results of the collision - how do you build a detector to detect something too small to be detected?

You don't, exactly. You watch the effect it has on other particles in a detector.

 

[JohnnySavage]

I think they might just be pulling our legs.

 

[trysail]

What good is understanding how the universe works? It's an end in and of itself. Any practical applications are just a bonus. Like microchips were from quantum research or Teflon was from the space program.

News Flash: Teflon® was invented well before the space program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon

 

[bluntforcemama]

Umm...Koalabear is a tad busy right now, he's pontificatin' and acc-sen-chu-atin' the negative in the economic doom 'n gloom thread. He'll be along shortly.

HA! I love it when you name names.

I'm going to buy water wings, just in case.

 

[rosco rathbone]

well both maybe. although for some people the physical evidence can help reify it as a concept.

What I'm getting at is, if you know it exists and you know how it works, why can't yo go with that as a basis for science. it's like atoms, they could be theorised and conceptualised way before they could be seen.

Our theories have many holes. The "dark matter", the "Voyager Problem"...

 

[where]

Our theories have many holes. The "dark matter", the "Voyager Problem"...

it's all making my head hurt. I'll leave the hard science to you guys.

 

[rosco rathbone]

it's all making my head hurt. I'll leave the hard science to you guys.

Make us some tea while you're at it, dear.

 

[where]

Make us some tea while you're at it, dear.

sorry... I still have essays to mark so the next gen of social workers can go forth and fuck up.

 

[rosco rathbone]

strops you

 

[KRCummings]

I think they might just be pulling our legs.

That's pretty much how I see all quantum physics. I think they just make it up and use big words so they sound smart.
Somewhere there's a room full of physicists laughing their asses off.

 

[TurdFergeson]

Show me your double slit experiment, KRC.

 

[Quoll]

News Flash: Teflon® was invented well before the space program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon

Actually I read on Lit (so it must be true) that it is recovered alien technology.

Either way, why aren't toilet bowls covered in teflon, I don't want to see someone else shit stuck there.

 

[Karen Kraft]

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