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Are Microscopic-Black Holes Dangerous?

The question of any possible danger associated with creating microscopic-black holes is of course something physicists at LHC have thought about. We, like most people, are very concerned about issues such as war, famine, and disease. So we are similarly concerned about the fate of our planet. We would not consider starting an experiment if we thought there was the slightest risk. Our views on microscopic-black holes are extremely well informed.

According to some theoretical models, microscopic black holes could be produced in collisions at the LHC. Most people think it is very unlikely, but it would be fascinating if it were possible, and definitely harmless.

Microscopic-black holes would very quickly decay and be detected by experiments (the tinier the black hole, the faster it evaporates). The energy available in the decay of a microscopic-black hole produced at LHC is exactly the same as the energy for any other collision event at LHC.

When one asks if microscopic-black holes could be dangerous, it is important to remember that cosmic rays are continuously bombarding Earth's atmosphere with far more energy than protons will have at the LHC, so cosmic rays would produce everything LHC can produce.

They have done so throughout the 4.5 billion years of the Earth's existence, and the Earth is still here!

The LHC just lets us see these processes in the lab (though at a much lower energy than some cosmic rays).

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