In science news, the Large Hadron Collider (aka "The Doomsday Machine") in Switzerland (aka "The Land of Chocolate", see video below) resumed operations on November 20, 2009, as proton beams (aka "phaser blasts") resumed circulating through the LHC.Scientists there will slowly raise the energy level of these colliding beams of protons (aka, again, "phaser blasts") from 900 GeV to a world-record high energy level of 7 TeV sometime in early 2010.
When that occurs, some believe that a black hole, or multiple black holes, will be created, and will then promptly destroy the planet.
Scientists at LHC, of course, deny that this could happen.
So, what do GeV and TeV mean? Below are some conversions.
1 gigaelectron volt (GeV) = 1.60217646 × 10-10 joules
1 teraelectron volt (TeV) = 1.60217646 × 10-7 joules
1 TeV has approximately the same kinetic energy as a flying mosquito.
Below in the resources section is a video created by those who worked on building the Large Hadron Collider, to help explain what it is intended to do.
Resources:
CERN GlossaryScience News: Large Hadron Collider: Beams are back on at world's most powerful particle accelerator
Land of Chocolate (video)
Large Hadron Rap (video)
