Thursday, September 18, 2008

The God Particle

Mark & I have been following this news story closely.  It's downright amazing & scary.  I can't quite explain it myself because I barely understand it, but here is an excerpt from an excellent article in National Geographic, "Starting sometime in the coming months, two beams of particles will race in opposite directions around the tunnel, which forms an underground ring 17 miles in circumference. The particles will be guided by more than a thousand cylindrical, supercooled magnets, linked like sausages. At four locations the beams will converge, sending the particles crashing into each other at nearly the speed of light. If all goes right, matter will be transformed by the violent collisions into wads of energy, which will in turn condense back into various intriguing types of particles, some of them never seen before. That's the essence of experimental particle physics: You smash stuff together and see what other stuff comes out."

Scientists are trying to explain how the universe began. How we all became what we are, how the universe went from nothing into so many vast & complicated things.  

I have to sit back & wonder, what questions will this answer? Will it make us feel any differently about how the universe got its start?  Will our curiosity get the best of us in this situation?  What do you think?  The article is lengthy, but I highly recommend reading it.  It was pure fascination for me.  

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text

1 comment:

Bond Fam said...

Well of course there is an explanation for how the universe was created! But that doesnt mean that God wasnt the one to create it! Even if they do figure out how it was done, even on just a small degree, it wouldnt change what I know to be true! I mean I believe that someday we will be taught all of this, and not by some people that only know parts of how it was done. We will be taught by God himself! But your right it is still interesting.