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How might the discoveries of the LHC experiment be applied? For instance, is it likely that the knowledge gained will allow the creation of new technology? None

How might the discoveries of the LHC experiment be applied? For instance, is it likely that the knowledge gained will allow the creation of new technology? None of the news articles I read touched on this point.

pmjordan 18y ago
Particle physics tends to be pure research, but there's a chance that they might find something entirely unexpected that might bubble up into research into renewable energy or material science.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Many areas of physics start out as pure research and are applied much later to life changing technologies.
  - pmjordan 18y ago
    One of the most famous examples of course being the photoelectric effect, which kinda went dead for many decades until it started being applied in digital cameras.
    - michael_nielsen 18y ago
      The photoelectric effect was an important step along the way to quantum mechanics, without which there'd be no transistor, and probably no personal computer, or Hacker News.
      - cstejerean 18y ago
        In case anyone else is wondering what transistors have to do with quantum mechanics http://madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2000/952639215.Ph.r.html http://madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2000/952639215.Ph.r.html
mpk 18y ago
> How might the discoveries of the LHC experiment be applied? Why is this even a question? The results of the LHC experiments will (hopefully) give us answers about assumptions in the Standard Model of physics and a load of theoretical speculations besides. The results will allow us to interpret measurements already taken in a new light and will alter the means by which we measure (and/or interpret) things in the future. The LHC experiment will not end the world, nor will it suddenly give us all flying jet cars. It will (again, hopefully) advance our knowledge of the universe we live in. Commercial interests are not a factor. Why do people keep moaning about the price tag and speculating on the industrial aspects when they're not busy predicting the end of the world?
- lunchbox 18y ago
  "Why do people keep moaning about the price tag and speculating on the industrial aspects..." Maybe because billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being used to fund this project. You can spend your own money however you want, but if you want public funding, you will have to put up with questions about whether this expenditure will actually make the world a better place for ordinary people.
  - Ardit20 18y ago
    "but if you want public funding, you will have to put up with questions about whether this expenditure will actually make the world a better place for ordinary people." Strange how no one seemed to care how much money the War in Iraq would cost, or whether spending that many trillions is justified, but 4 billion to do what is vital for our existence, that of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, needs justification.
    - rms 18y ago
      Careful, if you start comparing the spending for Iraq to pretty much anything, the opportunity cost of Iraq is enough to drive you insane. You can take some solace in the knowledge that even without Iraq, science would have been underfunded. For the cost of Iraq we could have skipped a couple generations of particle accelerator. At this rate of Science funding it'll be 100 years until we build the planetary scale accelerator to test string theory.

pmjordan 18y ago

Particle physics tends to be pure research, but there's a chance that they might find something entirely unexpected that might bubble up into research into renewable energy or material science.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Many areas of physics start out as pure research and are applied much later to life changing technologies.
- pmjordan 18y ago
  One of the most famous examples of course being the photoelectric effect, which kinda went dead for many decades until it started being applied in digital cameras.
  - michael_nielsen 18y ago
    The photoelectric effect was an important step along the way to quantum mechanics, without which there'd be no transistor, and probably no personal computer, or Hacker News.
    - cstejerean 18y ago
      In case anyone else is wondering what transistors have to do with quantum mechanics http://madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2000/952639215.Ph.r.html http://madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2000/952639215.Ph.r.html

mpk 18y ago

> How might the discoveries of the LHC experiment be applied? Why is this even a question? The results of the LHC experiments will (hopefully) give us answers about assumptions in the Standard Model of physics and a load of theoretical speculations besides. The results will allow us to interpret measurements already taken in a new light and will alter the means by which we measure (and/or interpret) things in the future. The LHC experiment will not end the world, nor will it suddenly give us all flying jet cars. It will (again, hopefully) advance our knowledge of the universe we live in. Commercial interests are not a factor. Why do people keep moaning about the price tag and speculating on the industrial aspects when they're not busy predicting the end of the world?

lunchbox 18y ago
"Why do people keep moaning about the price tag and speculating on the industrial aspects..." Maybe because billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being used to fund this project. You can spend your own money however you want, but if you want public funding, you will have to put up with questions about whether this expenditure will actually make the world a better place for ordinary people.
- Ardit20 18y ago
  "but if you want public funding, you will have to put up with questions about whether this expenditure will actually make the world a better place for ordinary people." Strange how no one seemed to care how much money the War in Iraq would cost, or whether spending that many trillions is justified, but 4 billion to do what is vital for our existence, that of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, needs justification.
  - rms 18y ago
    Careful, if you start comparing the spending for Iraq to pretty much anything, the opportunity cost of Iraq is enough to drive you insane. You can take some solace in the knowledge that even without Iraq, science would have been underfunded. For the cost of Iraq we could have skipped a couple generations of particle accelerator. At this rate of Science funding it'll be 100 years until we build the planetary scale accelerator to test string theory.