People forget all about science and go by their own flawed logic. I think most people automatically associate the term "black hole" with a big black hole in space with an infinite gravitational pull, no matter the mass. Did they miss physics class or something? Ever heard of *Newton*? The *universal gravitational constant*? The universal grav. constant is based on mass... 6.6726 x 10^-11 N per square unit of mass. So your telling me that a black hole with a couple hundred protons will suck up Earth? Come on.... I don't even have the patience to right that long of a decimal! My dog has more gravitational pull than these things... and the only thing he's sucking up is food.
No proof, (remind you of any other absurd theory?) no evidence, zilch in terms of the logic behind this path of thought.
I answered this one question where a person was asking "Will the LHC create a black hole that will destroy Earth?" So, of course, I said no and gave a detailed explanation behind it. I check back later to find that some guy said "YES IT WILL! BLACK HOLES SUCK EVERYTHING UP!" And under his sources, he listed "8th grade logic." To which I replied, "Instead of relying on flawed 8th grade logic, how about relying on 8th grade physics classes?" I mean, seriously, how ignorant and flat out *stupid* can you be?
For this, I don't think we can pass the blame off on the history channel... just a bunch of misleading information.
I've actually gotten emails from people saying "Ur stupid cuz black holes suk everything up." (actual quote from some guy) At first I thought he was kidding... I mean, who would write an email like that? So I responded asking him if he was serious or not, and apparently he was. I am some sort of devil because I am telling lies about gravity.... and I'm sorry, but who's been studying astrophysics? Obviously not him! I try explaining nicely to these people but this dang ignorance is overwhelming.
To answer your question, yes, the LHC would have to be not only a lot more powerful, but also a lot larger. In order to create a black hole with even the mass of a mountain (which still isn't nearly enough to such anything in) we would probably have to have a particle accelerator larger than the solar system. Honestly, we would be lucky to get *any* black holes out of the LHC. If any, they will probably be so small that we can't even detect them.
Also, has anyone ever heard of "Hawking radiation"? These people should at least research the LHC and a bit of simple physics before posting these questions.
And as I've said, why would PhD holding physicists be running the thing? If anyone was going to be afraid or concerned, it would be them. These people have college degrees in particle physics, astrophysics, and multiple other fields based on their role in the project... scientists aren't stupid. We aren't living in a sci-fi/government conspiracy novel here!
