Sunday, September 21, 2008

Defrosting Pizza

This actually does have something to do with the LHC, as has everything I've posted in the last while. Check http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=how-long-would-it-take-the-lhc-to-d-2008-09-10 for more information on the approximate time the LHC could take to defrost a pizza. Of course, not only would the energy not spread across the pizza, but if it did it would happen so quickly that the pizza would form a superheated outer shell of something definitely not edible any more. The inside would still be frozen, and maybe there would be a microscopically thin layer that got just little enough heat to not be altered on a molecular level (at least), but enough not to be frozen any more. Any way one looks at it, it's pretty epic.

In more serious LHC news, part of the cooling system broke. According to another article in SA, it was probably due to some faulty wiring that overheated. I don't think any of the workers for the LHC are going to raise their hands when they ask who was working on that part.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I need to check the external links more.

http://environmental-impact.web.cern.ch/environmental-impact/Objects/LHCSafety/NicolaiComment-en.pdf

http://environmental-impact.web.cern.ch/environmental-impact/Objects/LHCSafety/NicolaiFurtherComment-en.pdf

I went further down in the LHC's defence, and found that Dr. Roessler hadn't only been addressed, but directly attacked. Several times. From what I can draw, he's using only a small part of general relativity that, though isn't disproven here, doesn't make sense or govern the universe on its own. Are people taking pot shots at CERN just because they feel like it?

On another note, I have a science project from grade 7 that has made an interesting development recently. It's an ecosystem in a jar, but the planned model (snails and a plant) failed immediately and was entirely destroyed a year and a half ago (it's about two and a half years old). Still, algae persisted where the plant had died, and a few months ago I saw a small swarm of very small, swimming... things. I haven't seen them since, but recently I left the jar in the full sun (it stays indoors, by a window, taking some light from the sun). It was a hot day, and it started to turn brownish. Has the surface life been killed? I don't want to closely examine (or even open) the environment, because it's had all that isolation from the world since it was made (it actually seems to have dropped a hundred millilitres or so over the years). I'll have a picture soon, maybe some different shots, angles and lighting for anyone who wants a look.