[ExI] Cool Physics

[spike]

> Subject: Re: [ExI] Cool Physics
> 
> > ...On Behalf Of John K Clark
> > Subject: [ExI] Cool Physics
> > 
> > ... but I can imagine making a mini Black Hole and that 
> would be very 
> > cool indeed because it would demonstrate the existence of other 
> > dimensions...
> 
> John, why would making a black hole demonstrate addition dimensions? spike

Is this one of those discoveries that would be cool until you realize your
calculations were wrong, the mini black hole wasn't evaporating like it was
suppose to but rather was growing?  

The question did give me a darkly entertaining thought.  Back in the final
phases of the development of the atomic fission bomb, a group of theoretical
physicists under Edward Teller were already exploring the creation of a much
larger atomic fusion weapon.  They realized that any fission bomb has a
theoretical limit to its yield, but a fusion weapon could be made of
arbitrary size.  Consequently, they realized that as a purely defensive
weapon, perhaps the most effective would be a fusion weapon large enough to
destroy everything on the planet.  This they called the backyard device, for
it made a delivery device unnecessary.  Just park the thing in your back
yard and politely request that your enemies keep their goddam distance,
thank you.

This story is related by Teller in his wildly entertaining and scary
Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics (1991).  Subsequent years of
study have shown that a backyard fusion bomb would require tritium, which
has such a short halflife (12 yrs) that it would not be feasible.  

I read the arguments advanced by the physicists on the Large Hadron Collider
that a mini black hole would not be created and would not devour the planet.
I found the reasoning convincing, but what if they discovered a way that
they actually *could* create a black hole that *would* devour the earth?
Would not that be the ultimate backyard bomb?  Could not a wacky national
leader one day send out a message: you infidels back off, or I will push
this button and we will all meet face to face in a space smaller than an
olive pit!  {8-|

Well on the bright side, that would be cheaper to maintain than a bunch of
nukes, ja?

spike