Wasn't LHC supposed to create the occasional microscopic black hole? What are the logistics on capturing one of those, keeping it fed, and making some definitive observations?
Wasn't LHC supposed to create the occasional microscopic black hole?
That was discussed but AFAIR nobody really believed this was actually going to happen.
What are the logistics on capturing one of those, keeping it fed, and making some definitive observations?
Generally speaking, the logistics are that you hope that will never create a black hole. You can't really "capture" a BH: It will fall down (towards Earth) like everything else and then start eating its way to the core…
Unless… you manage to create an electrically charged black hole. Then you might be able to confine it e.g. between two condensator plates, by calibrating the voltage in such a way that electric and gravitational force on the BH cancel out.
Now, one problem would be that we expect small black holes to radiate heavily (Hawking radiation), meaning we would have to keep feeding the BH to prevent it from evaporating. (Unless we believe in black hole remnants, see my other comment.) This whole endeavor would make stabilizing the BH between the condensator plates much more challenging. And we'd also still have to worry about what all that radiation will do to our equipment…
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Wasn't LHC supposed to create the occasional microscopic black hole? What are the logistics on capturing one of those, keeping it fed, and making some definitive observations?
That was discussed but AFAIR nobody really believed this was actually going to happen.
Generally speaking, the logistics are that you hope that will never create a black hole. You can't really "capture" a BH: It will fall down (towards Earth) like everything else and then start eating its way to the core…
Unless… you manage to create an electrically charged black hole. Then you might be able to confine it e.g. between two condensator plates, by calibrating the voltage in such a way that electric and gravitational force on the BH cancel out.
Now, one problem would be that we expect small black holes to radiate heavily (Hawking radiation), meaning we would have to keep feeding the BH to prevent it from evaporating. (Unless we believe in black hole remnants, see my other comment.) This whole endeavor would make stabilizing the BH between the condensator plates much more challenging. And we'd also still have to worry about what all that radiation will do to our equipment…
Long story short: Don't do it!