Haley+French



**__Can the Large Hardon Collider at CERN create a black hole? __**
Black holes have held the fascination of many since the beginnings of space exploration. With the recent explosion of scientific knowledge and capability, one would think that we would know more about black holes. In reality, we still know little about these deep space anomalies. A black hole by definition is a cosmic body that has such a strong gravitational force that even light can not escape it. The famous physicist, Steven Hawking, discovered that black holes give off small amounts of radiation. These cosmic bodies have received much attention in discussions of the Large Hardon Collider built at CERN. CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is a center of scientific research near Geneva, Switzerland. The Large Hardon Collider is a 100 meter long tube under ground in which scientists accelerate protons toward one another.



With the proton collision scientists hope to find a new way to create energy in large amounts. However some believe that this will create a tiny black hole that has the potential to gain mass and ingest the entire earth. However this theory has not been proven and it is believed that if this collision was to result in a black hole, the Hawking radiation would kill the hole instantly.