Large Hadron Collider produces first results

[Kantor]

tombi123 said:

Kantor said:
So have they actually LEARNED anything yet?

I don't really see the point of the LHC. Billions of euros for an enormous machine that will prove something which scientists already think is true, which will have no impact on humanity. Then, in a few years, they'll scrap it and build a new one.

CERN is much more than just the LHC. The point of the LHC isn't to prove that the Higgs-Boson particle exists, its point is to find out if the Higgs-Boson exists. If the LHC produces an HB, physicists will be able to measure its mass. If the LHC doesn't find an HB then we might have to rethink The Standard Model of Particle Physics. 

100 years ago you probably would have said that The Theory of General Relativity would have no impact on humanity. Without General Relativity humans would have no satellite communication technology. Meaning no internet, no way of predicting the weather accurately, no GPS etc. 

Also the costs of the LHC pale in comparison to the amount of money spent on bailing out the banks. A deeper understanding of the Universe which will almost certainly lead to scientific and technological breakthroughs is worth so much more to humanity than bailing out some careless banks.

So, they think the Higgs-Boson exists, but they're not sure. So, they want to test it.

What would measuring the mass of a Higgs-Boson achieve? Would that allow us to create matter, or something? If it did, that would be amazing...and also pretty freaky.

I suppose you're right about General Relativity, but I won't accept that the LHC is going to benefit the large majority of humanity until I see its effects. I think money would be better spent on medicine, nanotechnology, things which would help the general public and not, most probably, lie in an archive somewhere.