fourteen trillion electron volts

[nibot]

	Tobin T. Fricke 972 S. Plymouth Ave Rochester, NY 14608-2907 phone: (510) 520-9697
Discover Magazine 114 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10011-5690

Dear Sir,

         I think it is misleading (if not just wrong) to say that the energy of particles in the LHC, 14 trillion electron volts, is "trillions of times more powerful than the energy released by dynamite" (Vol 26, No 8, Page 34). Fourteen trillion electron volts is about two microjoules; by comparison, just a gram of TNT is said to release about 4 kilojoules of energy. Certainly, integrating over time and particles and including the huge currents circulating in the magnets, the LHC will involve impressive amounts of energy. But the energy of a single particle is still less than the kinetic energy of a honey bee in flight; and, unlike dynamite, the LHC is unlikely to explode.

Tobin Fricke

Comments

[kaolinfire.livejournal.com]

awesome =)

[pbrane.livejournal.com]

But sir, the energy released *by an equivalent mass* of TNT (i.e. to two protons worth) is indeed *trillions* of times more, since the hydrogen bond is about 10.4 eV, and on average less than one hydrogen bond per nucleon in a nitroclycerine molecule is ionized in oxidizing TNT.

So... there is a strict and reasonable sense in which they're entirely accurate.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

It's true they didn't mention how much dynamite.. but do you really think that's what they were going for? ("The magnets will bend particles along a circular path as they accelerate to 99.99999 percent the speed of light and attain energies approaching 14 trillion electron volts, trillions of times more powerful than the energy released by dynamite.")