QUESTION #103

Is it possible that a big enough particle accelerator ,(the RHIC for example), could generate a black hole. If so - how?

Asked by: Tim Butler

Answer

I have just read the latest edition of New Scientist magazine which features a 4 page article on the subject.According to the article, the smallest possible black hole is about 10^-35 meters across (Planck's Length). To create such an object by collision would require energies of 10¹⁹ Giga-electronvolts - more than ten million billion times the energies created by the RHIC. We would need a particle accelerator as big as the galaxy to do it. Even then, this black hole would evaporate in about 10^-42 seconds. So, basically, the answer is no.
Answered by: Tim Butler

'I beseech you to take interest in these sacred domains so expressively called laboratories. Ask that there be more and that they be adorned for these are the temples of the future, wealth and well-being. It is here that humanity will grow, strengthen and improve. Here, humanity will learn to read progress and individual harmony in the works of nature, while humanity's own works are all too often those of barbarism, fanaticism and destruction.'

Louis Pasteur
(1822-1895)