CERN July 5 myths about particle accelerators debunked

On July 5, 2022, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, restarted its machine known as a particle accelerator. The machine rebooted today after a three year hiatus of upgrade and maintenance, and will run for the next four years† The news caused conspiracy theories to spread online, with people speculating what might happen after the machine was turned on.

Some people said: turning on the accelerator would cause the Mandela effect, or create false memories. Others said: it could open a portal to another dimension or a black hole†

CHECK audience member that Wilson emailed to ask if CERN can open a black hole, what a object in space so close that light cannot escape it.

Can CERN’s particle accelerator open a cosmic black hole?

No, CERN’s particle accelerator cannot create a cosmic black hole. The machine will also not cause a shift in time or space. The machine is used by researchers to analyze how particles work in the universe.

According to the US Department of EnergyA particle accelerator is a machine that accelerates the smallest known particles, such as electrons or protons, to very high energies.

Based in Switzerland, CERN is the world’s largest physics laboratory, and CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is one of the largest particle accelerators in the world. Into the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel close to the speed of light before being forced to collide. The beams collide at four different locations, where particle detectors are located.

CERN says the process shows scientists how the particles interact, and “provides insight into the fundamental laws of nature† The United States Department of Energy has information about how particle accelerators work and how the technology has impacted the fields of basic science, medicine, consumer products and national security.

on July 5, three never-before-seen particles were identified by scientists. And contrary to viral theories, no portal to a new dimension was discovered, nor was a black hole opened. According to NASAis a cosmic black hole’s gravity so powerful that it will be able to pull in nearby material and “eat” it.

“For black holes, distant observers will only see areas outside the event horizon, but individual observers falling into the black hole experience a very different ‘reality’. If you were to get into the event horizon, your perception of space and time would completely change. At the same time, the black hole’s immense gravitational pull would squeeze you horizontally and stretch you vertically like a noodle, which is why scientists (no joke) call this phenomenon ‘spaghettification,’” says NASA.

There is no evidence that that happened on July 5 after the LHC restarted.

Dejan Stojkovic, a physics professor at the University at Buffalo, told VERIFY in an email that current technologies are incapable of creating a cosmic black hole. Black holes form in space when certain stars, much larger than the sun, collapse on their own at the end of their lives.

“To create a black hole with our current technology, in the context of our standard theories of gravity… We need an accelerator the size of the entire universe. So we either have to drastically improve our technology, or we have to build a bigger accelerator,” Stojkovic said.

Some theories suggest that the particle accelerator could form “quantum” black holes, but they would be microscopic, CERN’s website says:†

A quantum black hole is different from a cosmic black hole. Rather than being created by the collapse of stars, quantum black holes can be created when protons collide.

†[Black holes] concentrate a very large amount of matter in a very small space. They are so dense that the gravitational force they exert is so great that even light can’t get out,” says CERN. “Speculations about black holes in the LHC refer to particles created by the collisions of pairs of protons. These are microscopic – or quantum – black holes. Scientists are not at all sure that quantum black holes exist.”

If the LHC were to create a black hole, it could confirm theories of what the universe is capable of host other dimensions, says CERN. VERIFY asked CERN about the conspiracy theories surrounding their July 5 event. In an email, CERN said the theories are flawed and they hope people will instead focus on real scientific research.

“CERN’s research captures the imagination of many people, which is why CERN has been featured in many science fiction books/even movies around the world. Inspired by our scientific research, these imaginative works are fictional works generated to capture the reader’s or viewer’s sense of wonder and should not be confused with the actual scientific research,” CERN told VERIFY.