The document discusses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and its discovery of the Higgs boson particle. It compares the small amount of energy (7 TeV) used in particle collisions at the LHC to larger energies found in nature. Though the LHC's energy levels are small, it allows scientists to precisely control atomic collisions within a laboratory setting. The discovery of the Higgs boson confirmed predictions of the standard model of particle physics but came at a very high cost of $10 billion for the LHC. Some question if this investment level can be justified given current economic crises and cuts to social programs.

1. Higgs Boson
and my Ballpoint
What is a teraelectronvolt
and why the crisis forced LHC
to find a Higgs boson
Daniel Crespin

2. The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) speeds up atoms (a nucleus is an atom
stripped of electrons) up to very large velocities. Atom beams crash
against one another with energies up to 7 TeV, some 10 -6 J, or millionth
joule. How much energy is this?

3. In the International System the unit of energy is the joule, J in short.
It is the work realized by a force of one newton (about 100 grams) along
one meter.
It equals also the potential energy of a very large egg at one meter (three
feet) heigth. When falling, the potential energy of the egg transforms into
kinetic energy until it hits the ground with an energy of 1,0 J.

4. 1 J = 6.250.000.000.000.000.000 eV
= 6.250.000 TeV
Another energy unit, a much smaller one, is the electronvolt, denoted eV.
It is the energy an electron aquires when pushed by a one volt tension.
A teraelectronvolt, abridged TeV, is one trillion (1012) electronvolts.
One joule equals 6,25 × 1018 eV, same as 6,25 million TeV.

5. BIC Cristal ballpoints are among the cheapest. I have a blue one here
atop my desk. The cap of my BIC weights 1,0 grams (0,9 grams would be
more precise), the hundredth part of 100 grams …

6. … and one centimeter is the hundredth part of one meter.
The cap, at one centimeter height above the desk, has potential energy equal
to one hundredth of hundredth of a joule, or 10-4 J, one ten-thousandth joule,
equal also to one ten-thousandth of the falling egg, and hundredfold the 10-6 J
of the LHC ...

7. … I let the cap go, it falls, bounces, makes noise, and stands still.
In less than one second an energy amount of 10-4 J dissipated in the form of
sound and heat.
But the 10-6 J of the LHC is 100 times less energy.
What weights 100 times less than the cap?

8. A square piece of bond paper, 12 × 12 millimeters, when crumpled, becomes
a small paper ball that has 2 millimeter diameter and weigths 1 centigram.
Falling from 1 centimeter it hits the desk with almost inaudible noise and
stops. This little falling paper ball has dissipated 7 TeV of energy. Same
energy as atoms colliding inside the LHC.

9. The paper ball collides against the desk with energy 7 TeV.
The atoms collide inside the LHC with energy 7 TeV.
Furthermore, the LHC aims atoms toward a small volume where
collisions can be seen as fireworks. These atomic collisions are more or
less repeatable, and happen inside a laboratory where experiments can
be set up and measurements are taken.

10. = 3.000.000.000.000.000.000.000
The atomic mass of lead is 208.
The mass of the paper ball is 3 × 1021 times larger than the mass of an
atom of lead.
The paper ball weighs three billion trillion times more than one atom of
lead.

11. Collision energies of 7 TeV, as inside the LHC, or when the small paper ball
falls one centimeter, and much larger energies up to 10.000.000 TeV, are
observed in cosmic rays, for example, the Oh-My-God particle, a natural
phenomenon.
It seems unlikely the 7 TeV of the LHC will ever produce a planetary
catastrophe, as feared by some.

12. If the LHC could accelerate a 9mm caliber lead bullet (weighing 8 grams)
providing all its atoms with an energy of 7 TeV the total energy would be
3,85 megatons, triple the maximum energy of a B83, the most popular of
thermonuclear bombs. It would be a fearsome lead bomb.

13. Comparing the lead atoms accelerated by the LHC with hydrogen
bombs is ridiculous, but can impress the naive and originates the myth
of particles within the LHC having an enormous energy. After all, it is
not really that much, not even compared with cosmic rays.

14. Summing up, the LHC gives a small energy, as measured against energies
we humans use daily, to an extremely small particle, and does it in a
more or less predictable, controllable, reproducible way, within a
laboratory environment. Quite a technological feat.

15. The LHC is necessary in order to detect Higgs boson, a particle predicted
by the standard theory and called God’s particle …

16. … that“explains” the origin of the Universe …

17. … allows ”viewing” how the Universe began …

18. … and, hopefully, makes time travel possible.

19. Even Stephen Hawking , a Pop Physics star and favorite of reporters,
admitted he made a mistake when he thought that the LHC would not be
able to observe any Higgs boson.

20. Predicting, searching and finding is expensive and risky …

21. The cost of building the LHC was ten billion dollars, yearly operational
cost is one billion dollars, and groups of theoretical physicists question
the highly publicized finding.

22. In spite of an investment much higher than in the LHC,
and of using all cutting edge technologies,
it took 10 years to find out where Osama Bin Laden hid.

23. The Higgs boson has been predicted, and found by the LHC.
Let’s hope they predict the electron. Why don’t they predict its charge and
mass with paper and pencil. No cathode ray tubes, no oil mist. And since
the electron was already found in 1897, the billions for a LLC (large lepton
collider) can be saved.

24. There was in Waxahachie, Texas, USA, a plan for a 20 TeV collider, the
Superconducting Super Collider, or SSC, a.k.a. Desertron. Projected since
1983, with construction started in 1991, was canceled in 1993 due to
excessive overhead costs.

25. Europe suffers economic septic shock …

26. … in bed next to the USA, intensive care unit.

27. After years of prodromes, the economic crisis burst in Iceland, Ireland,
Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, USA, etc.
Politicians decided to rescue bankers, that finance their election
campaigns, are overlords of media and originators of the crisis.

28. The economic shipwreck includes cuts in education …

29. … medical services ...

30. … retirements ...

31. … contraction of production …

32. … consumption decline …

33. … massive unemployment …

34. … evictions ...

35. … and many other social dramas daily reported by the press.

36. As was the case with Titanic passengers, second and third class citizens
will only have remaining available places, if any, in the few lifeboats.

37. In this political scenario leaders of the LHC announce that they found,
with 95% certainty, God’s particle.

38. Development of scientific and technological knowledge is welcome. But
amid the economical crisis the LHC is a white elephant of 27 kilometers
circumference.

39. The LHC, according to its authorities, found Higgs boson. So much the
better…
The time of guillotining costs has arrived. Members of parliaments are
devoted to pleasing bankers. What would they do if after more than a
decade and billions of financing, the LHC did not find something? The
LHC would take the neoliberal charette to the same fate than Louis XVI
and Antoine Lavoisier.

40. And how regrettable if the LHC is used to originate new and terrible
weapons, worse that the ones the world already suffers.

41. In contrast with Physics, there will never
be a great 10 billion dollar undertaking
in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering or
Medicine, with social transcendence
and practical applications limited to the
media scene. For that money any sane
society asks for a proportioned return of
services that are necessary and cannot
be obtained with a smaller investment.

42. Let science be a useful activity for a
more just and peaceful world.
Daniel Crespin
Oteyeva, July 21, 2012
danielcrespinbryden gmail.com