Science : Large Hadron Collider (LHC) @ CERN

http://temasekpoly.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/lhc-sim.jpg

Hi guys, science time!!! To begin with, show you a part of the movie, Angels & Demons,

Angels & Demons Clip: "The God Particle"

Now that you have watched the clip, we will move on to our main topic for the day -- the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The LHC was mainly built in the attempt to prove the Big Bang Theory. Scientists want to prove that the Universe begins with a Big Bang, in short, a huge explosion which created space and galaxies. If this is true, then the Universe is still expanding and will continue to expand further due to the huge Big Bang, carrying galaxies with it.


Due to the fact that a micro black hole might be produced in the process, many people fear that if the experiment gets out of control, the black hole created would devour our planet. (There are numerous videos on the internet but I will not put it up here as I am not trying to spread fear.) Luckily, on the 30th March 2010 when the particles collided, nothing wrong happened. Let's hope that nothing bad will. Reading the article below helped alleviate a bit of my fear.

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Scientists at CERN attempts to understand Big Bang

Submitted by Seher Dhillon on Thu, 04/01/2010 - 09:57

http://markdowe.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/diagram-of-lhc1.jpg

Scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, achieved a big success by creating mini Big Bangs that will provide them with a glimpse of the creation of the universe.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN on Tuesday set a record by crashing proton beams into each other at 50 per second.
Speaking on the experiment, spokesperson James Gillies said, “It would be like sending more and more cars in opposite directions down one side of a motorway, more and more would be smashing into each other head-on.”
Now, scientists are making efforts to achieve particle collisions at 300 per second inside the LHC at CERN.
The experiment attempts to reveal the mysteries of the creation of the universe.
Some doomsday theorists have warned that the LHC experiment could put the whole humanity at risk by creating tiny black holes which could suck in all matter around them.
But, scientists at CERN said that the experiment could create tiny black holes but they would dissolve in just a fraction of a second.

Opinions:
We will surely be hearing more and more news about CERN and the LHC every now and then, because it is the largest science project that will continue to grow in the future. We might hear more and more about it in movies, novels and news, and so it is good to know a little about it, even though you might not be interested in science. For those who are fascinated by black holes, wormholes, time travel, spacetime or the Fourth Dimension, you might get the answer you want sooner than you think. As for me, I really want to know if Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking are right or wrong. If wrong, how far wrong are they, because that can tell us how smart the human brain can get.

Albert Einstein & Stephen Hawking

Vocabulary:
collide -- (especially of moving objects) to hit something violently
alleviate -- to make something bad such as pain or problems less severe

Resources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbzwgy4Gn3g
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQNpucos9wc
http://topnews.co.uk/23285-scientists-cern-attempts-understand-big-bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_black_hole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_of_particle_collisions_at_the_Large_Hadron_Collider

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=14947&dict=CALD&topic=accidents-involving-vehicles
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=2188&dict=CALD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_holes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_holes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_hawkings

Food: Eggette @ Mammy Pancake

Oops, missed Monday's entry, but expected, I suppose most of you are too lazy to be reading anything, or like me, too busy enjoying the holidays and thus failed to keep up with work. But everyone will start working tomorrow and so it is high time we start picking up our usual pace. I hope you enjoyed the talk by Warren Buffett. He was absolutely hilariously intelligent! While writing this now, I am watching it, just makes me laugh every time yet very enlightening!

During the Easter holidays, I went searching for nice snacks and food near Tsim Sha Tsui area, and one of the snacks I tried is one of Hong Kong's renowned local snack -- eggette. And Hung Hom has the best!

Chocolate and Original

Basic knowledge tells us that all you need are 2 steel eggette mould, some sort of egg and flour mixture and electricity and there you have the eggette you want. Well, yes and no. Like a lot of food critics say, "The simpler it seems, the better skills it takes." Eggette doesn't seem much different from waffles or pancakes you get from McDonald's, but then the skills involved can be so much more demanding. Watching the production of the Mammy Pancake, I finally understand what it means by skills and how minor improvements from the existing skills can make such a big difference in the quality.

Hygienic "kitchen"

What is the key? Well, I can't say I know the recipe, because I really don't. But from my observation, they make their eggette slowly, real slowly. I have seen one store down Kimberley Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, and that man juggles between five eggette moulds and he serves 10 customers in 10 minutes, make 10 eggettes every single minute and people lined up quickly leave with their order. No problem at all for that guy! But the eggettes taste just as normal as any other ones you can find almost anywhere else. On the other hand, Mammy Pancake's staff spent at least 3 to 4 minutes to make one eggette, and the long queue of customers have to wait for 15 minutes for their food but yet they waited! This is the business you really want!!

And what important the most is, Mammy Pancake does eggettes just the way I wanted.

Chocolate filling, not so sweet, but too filling for me

Most eggette around Hong Kong are thin, empty and crispy, and I thought I liked that because I thought that was the best it could get, I had never thought that a full filling eggette ball can taste so soft!!! Just look at those air spaces inside the eggette ball!!! I ordered chocolate and original; the original suits me best, it was SO rich in the aroma of eggs. The chocolate was nice enough to share, but definitely too filling for one to finish whole. The reason being, the staff were too generous with the chocolate. I prefer them to be a little more stingy.

Despite the chocolate concern, this has to be the best so far!! I am waiting to try the charcoal-made version, but before that, I will be back for more!!! Go try it!!!

Something extra for you. In Denmark, the closest to Hong Kong's eggette is called Æbleskiver. Though they look more like Japanese Octopus Balls and even the long metal needles used in the production look exactly the same, they actually are pancakes.

Average waiting time: 15 minutes. Make your order first and they will give you a token with number. They will call you when your order is ready.

Delicious Rating: 9 / 10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggette

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aebleskiver

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