What's A Proton's Turning Radius?

Switzerland?  Very close.

NYT's Dennis Overbye pretty much lays it out in his April 2, 2010 article and it's big.

Generally, protons sit in the middle of a molecule and, relatively, don't go all that fast.  As most of you should know by now, going slow gives you a good chance to complete that U- or K-turn you need to make when you passed up the Starbuck's.  If you are going 60 miles an hour (in a 25 mph zone), you are not going to get that latte this morning and will be asleep at your desk by noon.

Anyway, most protons pose little turning trouble.  The protons lazing around in your bottled water are actually ripping through the universe at speeds your Lamborghini can't even imagine.  The Earth whips around the sun at 760 mph, faster than a Boeing 777, if one ever flies more than 760 feet.  Its solar system gets near to 500,000 mph just in the Milky Way.  Forget about how fast the Milky Way or its cluster are going.

Not only does the protons go that fast, so do you on your couch and your DSL's pet turtle.

All of those speed are nothing compared to select protons under Switzerland.  The Large Hadron Collider--a name leaving unresolved whether the Hadron or Collider is large--which is buried around Geneva, has been repaired from what was probably a wayward black hole and is back in action big time.  Whatever is the large part, it is seventeen miles around, like a tunneled beltway around that city by the lake. 

The point of the LHC is to accelerate protons to speeds that would make Einstein cut back on lattes.  Once the protons are up near the speed of an image of Megan Fox heading toward your amazed eyes, the protons are to hit each other head on.  The kaboom generates heat, back holes and lots of really little particles that the scientists have sitting around to record for a decade or two,  It will be like a nano-sized Big Bang.  It could start a whole new universe, but one so small you wouldn't realize it had ended up on the bottom of your sandal.

But, to the point:  If you see one of these super-fast protons coming you way, remember:  It can't suddenly turn away.  That'll be up to you.  Despite the world's biggest refrigerator-magnets tugging at it, an LHC proton has a turning radius of 2.7 miles! 

Of course, there are probably are three Starbucks within that radius, but that's worse than a Camry on crackahol.  Trust me, you don't want to collide with either one.

So, what to do?

You can't avoid the Camry; they are everywhere.  But the LHC proton will stay safely in Switzerland, just like money used to, unless, of course, it escapes into France for a couple days, after which it could go anywhere and more annoyed than when it entered.  And if it creates a black hole, it would take hours to suck in that Camry, the turtle and your couch with you on it, giving you time to pray for the first time in...

No.  "Oh Sh_t!" is not praying.  But it is quick, so you can start with that.