BLACK-HOLe FACtORY?

Muse, May/Jun 2004

Several years ago astrophysicists realized that the next generation of accelerators might be powerful enough to make miniature black holes. Accelerators are big machines that rev particles up almost to the speed of light, slam them together, and then sort through the debris looking for clues to the mysteries of the universe.

The first accelerator that will reach high enough energies is under construction in an underground tunnel near Geneva, Switzerland. When it is brought online it might produce a black hole a second, the astrophysicists calculate. Would these black holes swallow the accelerator and the surrounding countryside? Sadly for science-fiction fans, no. If black holes really were produced (and that isn't certain), they would be very hot and evaporate within 0.00000000000000001 second. It's hard to do anything in that little time, much less eat Geneva.