The problem was not the wires themselves. It was what was governing the system of the cables. In my case, chaos (or so it seemed) was governing my cables, and I simply couldn't deal living in this chaos. It was time for a new system. I unplugged everything, but this time I did not go straight to color matching, though I knew that this would be part of the new system eventually. By now I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats in suspense, so I'll get to the point. The problem was there was much more speaker cable than was necessary. I went and got some wire cutters, and began cutting. After I cut about half the cables, I realized my mistake. The problem was not the wires themselves. It took me no time at all to forget this. I decided to impose a regulation on the wires: All extra lengths of wire will be neatly bundled and held together by a twisty-tie. Amazingly this one simple and effective rule made it so the cords never tangled and I only had to match the colors once after the rule was applied. I even had the flexibility to move the speakers around if I wanted to. Maybe regulations weren't all bad after all.

Now take a look at another "regulated" system, the fishing industry. For the sake of brevity, we'll say it can be regulated by two things: greed and sustainability. I'll define greed as wanting to make the most money in the shortest amount of time, and sustainability as the the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. What happens when the fishing industry is regulated by greed? The fishermen go out and catch as many fish as they possibly can and sell them as fast as they can. Then they go out and catch as many fish as they can the next day and sell them as fast as they can. Simple and effective. Soon the fishermen are catching less fish every day and making less money. They fish more furiously, but it is already too late. The fish can no longer reproduce fast enough to sustain the numbers being taken out of the water. Poof, no more fish, and no more fishermen. Although I've exaggerated the time frame, this is inevitably the fate of the greedy fisherman. Now lets look at the fishing industry that is regulated by sustainability. Sustainability is all about balance. This fisherman only removes the right number of fish so that the school can maintain its size year after year. In the short term this looks absolutely ridiculous, but sustainability is all about the long term. In the long term the greedy fisherman has no fish to fish. Whereas, the sustainable fisherman has (approximately) the same amount of fish to fish. Therefore, it is not just that there are regulations, it is necessary for the regulations to be the right ones.

The final example is the universe. Again for the sake of simplicity I'm going to only talk about two things: the gravitational force, and the electromagnetic force (specifically Coulomb's Law). I'm also going to make the assumption that these two forces have a hand in governing how our universe behaves. Let's look at the equations for these two forces.

Coulomb's Law                     

Law of Universal Gravitation

Strikingly similar no? The q's are the size of the charges, the m's are the size of the masses, and r is the distance between either the charges or the masses. That only leaves big G and the 1/(4*pi*). G and  are constants that are very important to us. According to Brian Greene, rock star physicist, in a TED conference talk (Feb 2005), if these constants were changed even slightly the universe would not exist, or at least the universe as we know it. But what are these constants? They make sure the gravitational force and electromagnetic force play by the rules. And what strict enforcers they are! To say it another way, these constants impose rules that the governing system of the universe (part of it anyway) operates by and enforces them no matter what. 

Ok now for the conclusion, which is going to seem like its from left field but bear with me. The American people are the constants, and the government is what we should be enforcing. However we have been lazy of late and the government has run wild and the country as we know it is disappearing. The financial system is being regulated by greed so soon it will no longer have a way to make money. Finally one of the main reasons for this is we hold the view point that all regulations are bad. I guess what I'm getting at is we need regulations in our lives. We need to regulate ourselves so we don't get over our heads in a house we can barely afford, for instance. We need to regulate the government so it doesn't act like an idiot, and so it can properly regulate the financial system. We need discipline in our lives or we will fail as a country.

Iron sharpens Iron and I hope we sharpen each other to go back out and be good dads, husbands, workers, etc

The octahedron:

1. 3 Axes (I thought this was a triangular point)
2. 4 Planar Corners (I thought this was a tetrahedral shell)
3. 6 Vertexes (I thought this was an octahedral shell)
4. 12 Edges (I thought this was an icosahedral shell)

The key is the universe is composed of particles of a broad variety.  But every particle is simply an association in the form of a set.  The lowest order particles are event and point.  They are one dimensional particles.  All subsequent higher dimension particles can be reduced to a subset of these particles.

The three axes of the octahedron are the universes of different orders.  They are simply subsets of one another.

The six vertexes of the octahedron are the vertex dimension sets of the system.

The twelve edges of the octahedron are edge dimension sets between each of the vertex dimension sets.  These edge sets are also particles and the same set equations can be applied to them that were applied to the vertex sets.

To understand the tables you will require high school level physics knowledge and an understanding of basic set theory.

First, I am taking ordinal sets and performing three set operations on them to get subsets.

Second, I am then plugging the subsets into a standard set equation that describes the "space" for that dimension set.

Third, I am then introducing the result into a higher order dimension set.

When

How

How Much

Why

What

Where

I'll add one thing to it though, which should apply to each of the 7 ingredients - keep it simple.

Image courtesy of Today's Inspiration

I have been giving theoretical physics a thorough and systematic going over and I think I’ve come up with a unified solution that incorporates gravity and all the particles.

I'm thankful for the work of:

• Issac Newton
• Albert Einstein
• R. Buckminster Fuller
• Max Plank
• Richard Feynman
• and a broad array of experimental physicists

Giants whose shoulders I stand on.

Each row in this model is a set of particles.  Everything is ultimately composed of distance and time.

I am creating a new taxonomy because the existing names do not consistently define the particles of the system.

When

Where

How

What

Why

How Much

System Schema

The structure of the schema is three dimensional and composed of three shells:

Inner Tetrahedral Intrashell:

Middle Octahedral Intershell:

Outer Icosahedral Boundary Shell:

The edges, vertexes and connections between the shells are all significant in revealing the dependecy of the particles upon one another.

This is the best I can do for a two dimensional representation:

Who

Network Schema

...but, as usual, there is also a fun part to it. And fun part 2.

Although one often starts arguments, whilst another maturingly puts them out.

And the lightest sometimes blows her temper, but quickly quiets down

When mother speaks her peace; gathering everyone around...

We can quinch your thirst completely; then take your breath away!
Stability we promise; whilst burning energies counterplay;

We usually work together--an intricate balanced act....

Though at times our ego over feeds us; causing us not to interact;

Although you may often prefer one or two of us to another

If one were not created; the world you know would be a blunder

We yin and yang superbly; a beautiful well balanced family...

Our harmony is so transparent that you may fail to see . . .

Our fluid inner beauty; our solid grounded love...

Sometimes, flighty dispostion - bringing heat to all thereof

You exhale one of us each second; into you she gently flows...

One's 65 percent your makeup; although you may not know. . .

One brings purity to impurities with the warmth of her touch;

Another provides homage to most of what you see; and everything you touch!

Dare not to underestimate us; we're most powerful and vain!

If we suspect you're disrespecting us; we'll cause you plenty pain!

If you look into our eyes, we'll most surely hypnotize--

Most find us quite alluring; many are simply mesmerized!

We are needed for survival; without us, perhaps there would be no birth

We are the four Essential Elements: Water, Fire, Air and Earth

By CordieB.

 My good friend Lisa Spagnolo -taken at our apartment -Cinque Ghibellina, Firenze 

Kara Walker -Excavated from the Black Heart of a Negress -2002

Sam Taylor Wood -Bound -2007

The LHC or Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator complex.  The particle accelerator has been utilized for hundreds of years, originally in the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) of Ferdinand Braun (CNET 2007).  In this basic particle accelerator, an 'electron gun' produces a stream of electrons (negatively charged fundamental particles of matter) (CNET 2007).  These electrons are directed towards a flourescent screen by either an electric or magnetic field (Physics Online, 2006).  When the electrons 'collide' with the flourescent screen, the electrons' energy is released as light and, with repetition and multiplication of the aforementioned technique, images are produced upon the screen.  

While most particle accelerators differ from the CRT in application, the fundamental basis is similar - particle accelerators utilise a charged particle and contain them at a high speed.  In the case of the CRT, the particles are collided with a flourescent screen.  In the case of the LHC, the particles are positively charged (protons) and are collided with eachother (BBC 2008).  

The LHC has been the brainchild of thousands of physicists from around the globe that congregated in Switzerland in order to learn more about the nature of matter.  The commonly acknowledged goal is the discovery of a theoretical fundamental particle known as the Higgs boson.  The Higgs is in a set of the elementary particles of matter, and is the only one that has not yet  been empirically observed (BBC 2007).  Besides hadrons like the proton and electron, other fundamental particles include the photon (mediates light and other electromagnetic forces) and the W and Z bosons (mediates weak force) (Physics Online 2008).  The key of the Higgs boson is that it will help researchers find the cause of the development of particle mass - seeing as to how the photon has no mass, the electron has negligable mass, the proton has considerable mass, and the W and Z bosons have large masses (Physics Online 2008).  The Higgs is thought to explain the reason that some particles have mass and others do not.  

CERN also hopes that the LHC will reveal more about the universe - for example, the nature of dark matter, the odd weakness of gravitational force, and the possibility of testing the models of the string theory, that predicted other dimensions (Physics Online 2008).

The science team at CERN were celebrating when the particles successfully went around the LHC, but their celebration was short lived. A few days later disaster occured when over a tonne of helium escaped (BBC 2008), warming up the superconducting magnets from 1.9 Kelvin to over 100 Kelvin. 

At first thought to be a small problem, it soon escalated into a more serious problem then they had anticipated. After hard work trying to identify the problem, the CERN team believes that there was a faulty electrical connection between two magnets. However, to find the problem they must go inside and try to fix the complex piece of machinery. However, doing this isn't as easy as it may sound. Since the superconducting magnets are cooled to 1.9 Kelvin, colder then space, the team must warm up the temperature to allow the team to go inside without being frozen to death.

The team has said this process takes atleast a week, then they must inspect the problem, fix it, and bring the temperature back down to 1.9 K. If the LHC is fixed by then, it will still be short lived due to the scheduled Winter shut down. The shut down is used to perform maintenance on the giant machine and to help save money on energy during the Winter months.

Sonic and the Black Knight----Q2 2009US

Sonic Riders:-----------------Zero Gravity

Sonic Unleashed--------------11/18/08US

Credited to Gamefaqs.com

Instead, it became earthquakes. "How do earthquakes happen?" Hmm, how do I introduce tectonic plates, driving at the end of the day (or night) and my brain was just about to drift happily into a well-deserved haze? I had to think and speak rather slowly, and after my explanation on continents and tectonic plates, I paused and asked T - did I get the science right?? Then Kai wanted to know what happens at the point of collision, if the plates could go over each other, if they  would fly up in the air etc etc. Thank goodness the Sandman came along to my rescue, but not for long.

The next day, I pulled out our proud NLB Sale purchase of a Geography Textbook (only $2!!!). It had all the natural disasters sectioned out clearly and fleshed out with photographs of destruction. It even had tectonic plates outlined! Perfect!! I congratulated myself on putting the book into our shopping cart.  A cursory look-through satisfied Kai. Ah, so easy to please, I thought to myself.

Then yesterday, he suddenly wanted me to explain the entire earthquake phenomenon again. "I can't remember, tell me again!" he insisted. I sighed and launched again into - on the globe, you see where the sea is, and where the land is? etc etc. - But this time, when I get to the tectonic plates, he immediately protested - "But it can't be!! How can the plates move? It's...it's...glued!"

Ahhh, so he can remember, but he's unconvinced. But hmm, how do I introduce the idea of a molten core now?? I tried anyway (and later found that the $2 geography book actually had a diagramme on the different layers!!). Kai hmmm and asked, are we moving now?? (Arghhh, yes we are because the Earth is rotating but the tectonic plate is relatively still now.) After a while, he spun about and laid on the floor - Mummy, when I finish spinning, am I moving or is it the house moving?? (huh?? Neither, it's the inner ear fluid.) I was relieved when we changed topic. But now I know better. He's going to make me repeat everything again a few days later. Not sure if i will be tectonic plates, or inner ear fluid though.

Because, today, he made me repeat Gravity again! "Is there gravity high up in the sky??" he asked. Arghhh. Fortunately he had been playing with magnets. I drew a parallel between gravitational field and magnetic field, and explain that the higher you go, the weaker the pull becomes, and that outer-space is zero-gravity.

...what if he asks me if magnets work in outer space?? I think I better look up on that...

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

E aliás, o site Games for Windows retirou os requerimentos de Gta 4...

We have a choice.

Allow gravity to get the better of us or jump high enough to orbit around it.

I choose the latter.

What about you?

My vehicle to gravity free living?

Creativity.

I am going to devote part of the day to working on my version of "Failure, The World Tour".  I wish I had Epicurienne's knowledge of food so I could pull out a fancy name for turning lemons into some heavenly poofy tasty dessert.

But, you get the drift, don't you?  And, more importantly, do you want to join me?

Yes, a series.  A most important one.

How do you turn yourself away from doom and gloom?  What do you do to get above it all?  To get perspective?  To see the big picture?  To discover that you are not entirely of this material world?

Words or Images, please.

For example, If I didn't already have this photo, I would have taken a photo of a piece of glass after I had expelled one or two breaths on it.  The transient fog/smoke on the glass I would have titled, "Still Breathing".

Hence, the name of this series, "Still Breathing".

All together now.

Breathe in through your nose.  Hold.

Slowly breathe out through your mouth.

Repeat until you agree to do something for this series, OK?

©Pat Coakley 2008

PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION

My head’s in the clouds;
I dream of the stars.
Engulfed by black nothing.
Awe of comets dashing by,
Nebulae richer in color than
earthen rainbows.

My head’s in the clouds;
I dream of the stars.
Earth’s moon - just the beginning
of this vast backyard.
I want to see everything
my humanity disallows me.

My head’s on a pillow;
I dream of the stars.
I am no astronomer,
just one gazing above.
I am no astronaut,
just one reaching up.
And for the time being
gravity holds me down.

Download the article and the accompanying figures.

Thus, no staggering posts of insightful genius or even a small giggle-inducing post.

The Saga of the Honey-Roasted Almonds

I decided that dough-free month began on Monday. I went by the health food store and picked up a small bag of honey roasted almonds because I figured they were tasty and they would stop me from feeling hungry. About 6:30pm I started having stomach cramps. This went on for a couple of hours. But, I already had a cold so I figured that it had become a stomach virus. Things die down, life returns to normal, or at least what passes for normal around here. On Wednesday, I'm at work trying to finish up an epic mailing and return to the same health food store for more of the honey roasted almonds.

That evening the stomach cramps return, this time coupled with vomiting and fever.

By Thursday, the worst of it has past, but I still feel shaky and intermittently feverish. The intermittent fever lasts for a few more days after that.

So, honey roasted almonds on Monday and Wednesday. Illness on both those days. I'm thinking there's something wrong with the almonds. What do you think?

Cue the tragic irony music. My efforts to eat better end up with me poisoning myself? That's something that shouldn't be ignored.

So, no-dough month has been called off as I needed to find SOMETHING to eat and perhaps there is a less dramatic, more sustainable way of approaching this. Maybe I'll have a mid-morning almond-free snack.

I meet with the naturopath in October and we'll create a plan then. Until then, I'll hope that my few days without dough has cleared the fog enough, that I can better pay attention to how food is making my body feel.

Anyone care to share their food poisoning horror stories? I await with bated breath.

Ruthless Gravity, originally uploaded by annamon (going to Terabithia).

♪♫ Ruthless Gravity, Craig Armstrong ♪♫ || En grande, sobre fondo blanco

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at a zero gravity( ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below the freezing to over 300 degrees Celsius.

And what did the Russians do?? They used a pencil!!

As I was reading my previous exams, I saw the above story at the back on one of my exams and it catched my attention so I decided to copy it.

In taking an exam, you get 50% chance of passing it if you'll focus merely on what the question is trying to imply.

We usually make things harder for us. Why waste time and effort if there's an alternative solution for every problems that arise in every life's situation.

It is life consuming to live occupying your mind with the problems, analyzing too much of  it. There is fruitful result but is it worthy of the time you've spent?

There is an unknown massive gravitational force beyond the limits of the universe pulling galaxies toward it at 2 million mph.  What is it?

http://tinyurl.com/4g8t6a

The solar wind is at its lowest recorded level ever?  Is it the calm before the storm in 2012?

http://tinyurl.com/3nr956

THIS MONTH, scientists launched the "Big Bang experiment". It was an attempt in recreating the start of the universe using the biggest and most sophisticated machine yet built.

After decades of careful preparation and planning and $10 billion of investment, scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (known as CERN) switched on the large Hadron Collider which, despite a stuttering start to experiments, will hopefully provide a breakthrough into the insight of how our world was formed and came into being. This journal is likley to be lengthy, technical in detail and regularly updated.

In the largest physics experiment ever attempted, the idea has been to smash protons into each other at unprecedented speeds, in-effect recreating the conditions that existed in the aftermath of the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago. The scientific world remains abuzz with eager anticipation in what might yet be discovered.

A last minute legal bid was launched in stopping the experiment at a laboratory in Switzerland on the grounds of public safety. That bid, rightly, was dismissed.  No major achievement in science has ever been made without some element of risk.

PARTICLE ACCELERATORS have been used before. Scientists at Cambridge, for example, used particle accelerators during experiments to ‘split the atom' in research findings that has had tremendous impacts on science and technology ever since those tests were carried out during the early part of the 20^th century. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), though, which has taken some twenty years to construct, is the largest particle accelerator the world has ever seen: sub-atomic particles will, as the first tests have shown, race around the LHC's 27 kilometre-long circular tunnel at just under the speed of light. To do so scientists will need to achieve a "full beam" which, incidentally, after the first hour of tests had been achieved on the morning of September 10^th. The next stage will be to fire a beam in the opposite direction.

The complex nature of the technology being used is designed to smash protons - essentially, one of the basic building blocks of matter - into each other, with calculated energy levels reaching up to seven-times greater than ever seen before. In the flashes from the collisions, scientists expect to reproduce the conditions that existed during the first billionth of a second after the Big Bang (or the birth of the universe). No one knows precisely what will come out of the primordial potage of disintegrating protons and it is expected that scientists will be investigating certain aspects of the experiments for analyses that could run into years, if not decades.

The LHC could help scientists explain further fundamental aspects of life - mass, gravity, mysterious "dark matter" and why, specifically, the universe looks the way it does. It could also produce the first evidence of extra spatial dimensions and even create ‘mini black holes' that blink in and out of existence in a fraction of a second.

The Hadron Collider is housed in 17-miles of tunnel (27km) under 100-metres of rock, straddling the borders of Switzerland and France between Lake Geneva and the Jura mountains.

FIRING AND ACCELERATION  

Firing the LHC up was far more complex than the flicking of a switch. Atoms of hydrogen were first stripped of their electrons to reveal naked protons which were then fired through a succession of smaller accelerators before they were travelling at sufficient speed before being injected into the LHC. That process required unimaginable levels of precision with timing accuracy required within a fraction of a nanosecond.

The protons are brought together in four huge detectors, placed along the ring. Each detector is like a giant microscope, designed to probe deeper into the heart of matter than has ever been possible before.

CONCERNS

Inevitably, concerns have been raised. In aligning with certain aspects of public anxiety, German chemist Professor Otto Rossler says that black holes created by the LHC will ...

... Grow uncontrollably and ‘eat the planet from the inside'.

However, those scientists and researchers involved with the project insist that they have reviewed all the evidence and concluded that it poses no risk to the universe.

Dr James Gillies, a particle physicist, and a spokesman for the LHC project confirmed that the centre had received a lot of worried calls from people about the intended experiments but said:

... There's nothing to worry about, the LHC is absolutely safe because we have observed nature doing the same things the LHC will do.

... Protons regularly collide in the earth's upper atmosphere without creating black holes.

PARTICLE COLLISIONS are due to take place in the near future, possibly within a few weeks. Teams of more than 2,000 collaborating scientists are expected to be involved with the sifting and analysing of the data from the machine. Most of these teams, however, will not be based at the LHC's operating base. A revolutionary computerised network, the next step beyond the World Wide Web - known as the "Grid" - will make it possible for scientists all over the world to share and disseminate huge amounts of processing power with the ability of carrying out much of their work, autonomously, on remote terminals, or on PCs.

The cost of the LHC is mainly shared by CERN's 20 European member states, which includes Britain. Six observer nations including the United States, Russia and Japan will make "significant contributions". An estimate of the total cost of the project is around £5 billion, with material cost alone valued at £2.6 billion. Britain's direct contribution to the LHC, each year, is to be £34 million.

Professor Jordan Nash, from Imperial College London, is one of the scientists working on one of the LHC's four experiments. His team will help to analyse data provided by the 12,500-tonne CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) detector, which is designed to look for new physics in any shape or form.

Professor Nash said:

... It's about testing theories and trying to pick which one of them is right.

... Theorists without data can't tell us which is the right answer.

Professor Nash said their discoveries could clinch Nobel Prizes for British physicists Professors Stephen Hawking and Peter Higgs if they confirm their theories.

But, rightly, Professor Nash also says:

... It's not about prizes. All of us do it out of fundamental curiosity about how the universe works.

... We have done all the easy stuff over the last 2,000 years. To push further takes a hugely complex apparatus.

EXCITEMENT

Professor Nash expects "big discoveries" in what could come out of the LHC over the next year or two, although he stresses that findings will be difficult because data will be buried in the vast amount of data that the machine will produce. He says:

... What we are going to learn is what nature consists of, not what we think it consists of - we may be barking up totally the wrong tree.

Dr Andrew Taylor, director of facilities at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which supplies the UK's funding for CERN, said the machine would enable scientists to explore the "fabric of the universe".

Dr Taylor said he would "bet his house" that the LHC would discover the particle, dubbed the "God particle", which is thought to explain how matter acquires mass (Higgs boson). The first scientific discoveries could well concern supersymmetry, the theory that all particles have twins known as "sparticles".

Dr Taylor said British scientists helped to conceive and construct the collider and, said specifically, that scientists in the UK would be involved in the mammoth collaborative task of interpreting the data.

 ... The UK punches above its weight at an amazing level

 ... Our theorists have been responsible for shaping the direction of the LHC.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

The LHC experiments probably amounts to the largest international collaboration outside of the United Nations. The project is involving some 10,000 scientists and engineers from 500 research institutes in no less than 80 countries. The building of the apparatus has been coordinated by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, whose remit includes carrying out studies into particle physics on behalf of the twenty nations that fund it. The centre has already built several particle colliders, or "atom smashers", which, previously, produced fundamental discoveries in physics leading to several Nobel prizes.

SAFETY

The risks of anything going disastrously wrong are so remote as to be deemed inconsequential. Recent reports referring to the "infinitesimally small" risk of the LHC creating a giant black hole have been universally ridiculed by the experts involved in the project, as well as from many others not actively involved with the project but from scientific backgrounds.

START

The project started with scientists attempting to introduce a beam of protons - the nuclei of hydrogen atoms - into the 17 mile circular tunnel that forms the backbone of the LHC experiment. The aim, ultimately, is to get two proton beams circulating at 99.99% of the speed of light, but in opposite directions, with the intention of seeking a collision.

On September 10^th scientists truncated part of that process but, the aim, once superconductivity and direction has been corrected will be in seeking a beam to travel one full circuit without disruption. Scientists are not expected to perform atomic collisions for several more weeks yet. It could be some time before the beams are powered up to the very high energy levels needed for meaningful collisions to take place.

HOPE AND THE HIGGS PARTICLE

Scientists involved with this project are hoping to discover many things. Essentially, though, they are trying to deduce what else matter is made of - the sub-atomic particles that have yet to be found - and how, specifically, it cements. Scientifically, it is an extremely exciting period particularly when there is potential and hope of unifying all the fundamental forces of nature into a single "theory of everything". This might explain, more comprehensively, everything from the strong, short-acting forces holding an atomic nucleus together to the relatively weak, long-range forces acting between the planets and the galaxies, otherwise known as gravity. Expectation is high that an early discovery may be to find the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle that has never been detected.

The Higgs particle are sub-atomic particles first proposed by Professor Peter Higgs in the 1960s at Edinburgh University. In theory, they could explain why gravity behaves in the way it does - the exerting forces on matter. The so called "Higgs field" is filled with these particles and when matter passes through this field they experience mass. If the LHC unearths and discovers these Higgs particles during experiments, it would go a long way in understanding, further, gravitational force.

HADRONS

Hadrons are types of sub-atomic particle. Protons are hadrons.

17 MILE CIRCUIT

The LHC doesn't need to be this long. However, this is the tunnel that was already there at CERN from a previous particle collider known as the LEP (Large Electron-Positron Collider). Scientists simply decided to recycle the tunnel and so were left, initially, with the original track parameters. Pertinently, the issue was in having a tunnel long enough for the protons to be accelerated to extremely high energy levels, and large enough in housing the large machines (like the magnets) that make up the four experiments that form the basis of the LHC. To this end, engineers carved-out huge underground caverns to contain the four experiments.

COST

The approximate cost in dealing with the LHC project is calculated to be in the region of £5 billion. Stemming mostly from international subscriptions to CERN, the UK's Science & Technology Facilities Council made provision of around some £500 million over the ten years it has taken to build the LHC. CERN's 20 member states have contributed the bulk of the cost, with other allocations apportioned to collaborating institutes around the world.

DARK MATTER

95% of the Universe that cannot be seen by conventional scientific instruments is classified "dark matter". Scientists know it's there from the gravitational influences it exerts, but we don't really know what it's made of. The LHC might discover sub-atomic particles that could explain this dark matter. A distinct possibility is the realisation of super-symmetry particles that are mirror images of the particles we already know about, but which have never been detected. LHC experiments are crucial in this regard if the scientific world is to progress its knowledge in understanding the physical world.

COMMENTARY

ESSENTIALLY, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), temporarily suspended because of a leak, is a giant "atom smasher" that has taken over a decade to build at the European centre for nuclear research (CERN) in Geneva.

It consists of an underground circular tunnel 17 miles in circumference and, at various points along the tunnel four massive instruments have been positioned to act as sub-atomic microscopes for analysing the extremely high-energy collisions that will occur between two opposing beams of protons, the atomic nuclei of hydrogen atoms. Principally, the aim of the experiment is to understand the fundamental forces of nature and the sub-atomic particles that compose all matter in the Universe.

In order to understand, further, what things are made of - and the forces that hold them together - it is necessary to break apart the sub-atomic constituents of matter. It is only by breaking apart a proton that scientists are able to identify what is going on within this infinitesimally small unit of matter. A significant part of the answer that scientists are seeking comes down to even smaller particles, some of which are so tiny and elusive that, so far, has escaped detection. Up to this point in time we know of 12 sub-atomic particles and 4 forces, but this is only scratching at the surface.

Saliently, through LHC experiments, scientists and researchers hope to resolve some of the biggest issues in physics. We anticipate, for instance, to one day unify all the disparate forces of nature, from the small-scale nuclear forces within an atomic nucleus to understanding, better, the force of gravity; gravitational force exists between planets and the galaxies. Known as the "theory of everything" there is much hope within science that the LHC will make important contributions to our wider understanding of the biggest questions concerning creation, time and the nature of matter?

There are some theorists who suggest that the collisions may create "mini" black holes. Indicatively, though, even if they do result from the experiment, they will be sub-microscopic in size and disappear within a fraction of a second of coming into existence. Few if any sensible scientists believe that these miniscule black holes pose any threat, and, as leading scientists have clearly pointed out, collisions already occur within higher parts of the atmosphere.

Some Russian scientists have also purported that it may be possible for the LHC in recreating the conditions that could, in theory, allow time travel. They have rather fancifully depicted a scenario where future time travellers come back to visit us through the LHC but, as other theorists have pointed-out, such time travellers would have to be atom-sized to pass through the tiny worm holes through time and space that the LHC may or may not create.

The experiments are highly complex. It is only once all the finer adjustments have eventually been made that two opposing beams of protons will reach the highest energy levels that could result in some very interesting discoveries. The most interesting developments will almost certainly be those which are least expected, or even totally unpredicted. However, as the above analysis shows, there is one sub-atomic particle that theorists have already predicted to exist.

Formally called the Higgs boson, dubbed the "God particle", it could explain why matter has mass and hence lead to a greater understanding of the force of gravity. At the energy levels being generated by the LHC, it is very likely that the first Higgs boson will be registered. How quickly the Higgs is found will depend on how heavy it is, with a lighter Higgs being harder to detect than a heavier one.

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© Mark Dowe 2008: all rights protected

The writer is a management accountant by profession and a graduate within accountancy, also holding an M.Sc in Geography.

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mark.dowe@googlemail.com