Arianna Georgi

Has anyone else been reading about this giant particle collider they are building in Switzerland I don’t have the best grasp of astrophysics, but from what I gather, they are going to accelerate a bunch of particles and then look at them, and for some reason it will give us a good idea of what the universe looked like right after the Big Bang or something. Anyway, there is a bunch of controversy surrounding it because they don’t really know exactly what will happen when they start it up and some people, (mainly the people that listen to Coast to Coast), think it could cause a mini-black hole to open that will then destroy our world. According to a guy I listened to on NPR, who seemed to have a much better grasp of the situation than I do, this is very, very, very unlikely (impossible), but people are worried about it nonetheless. I tend to want to believe the NPR guy, although I feel like, with all the controversy, if scientists did do this, and it didn’t work out, it’s somewhat amusing to imagine what their last words/thoughts would be before they were devoured by a black hole (or however it is black holes kill):”Damn I never should have built this giant particle accelerator.”

“I should have followed my heart and majored in Theatre.”

“This black hole is very unpleasant.”

“Somewhere right now Art Bell is saying “I told you so”"

“Why was it we needed to look at accelerated particles again?”

And so on. Anyway, I thought I would toss it out there. Anyone else want to add their own? I will buy a Frappacino (TALL, don’t get greedy) for whoever has the best response!

Tags: particle collider, science, the big bang

 The End of the World

We watched a show last night

about the end of the universe

it was on TV and

I am a sucker for that kind of thing.

A scientist,

that couldn’t stop grinning

sat next to the coal pit explaining

how all the stars would blink out

and how cold it would be,

and then even,

the end of that.

The coal pit was supposed to demonstrate something

(I’m not really sure what because I was an English major)

and the man

who works up in Berkeley

seemed delighted with our ultimate demise.

 He was laughing

as he talked about,

“a vast soup of particles”

and how even atoms

would break apart.

We can look forward to, he said,

the black hole era

the degenerate era

the dark era

none of it really sounded that fun,

but I have to admitt

the degenerate era

was intriguing.

To make us feel better

the show explained

this was billions of years away

and we on our couches would be long gone

only the man near the coal pit

really seemed disappointed.

I looked down at my lap

to see if you were sleeping

but you were watching

our universe dissolve right along with me

I wanted to explain

that it sort of made me sad

the end of the world coming

so far away and certain

it made me sad for all of us

imagining the fate of the world

hinges on whether or not we recycle

or play violent video games

or donate to Peta or the Red Cross.

It made me sad because I like to believe I am important

and not a bump on the path

the world and the universe lumbering by

heading on to their cold, dark ends.