Re: CERN Atom Smasher May End the World

Tim Little wrote:
> On 2008-04-15, Bryan Derksen <bryan.derksen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> I don't know enough about the theory to make an educated guess about
>> numbers, but wouldn't the cores of large stars be large and dense
>> enough to slow down micro black holes moving at a significant speed?
> 
> I'd guess not.  Gravitational interaction is *incredibly* weak.

Gravitational interaction wouldn't do anything at all because the black 
hole would pick up as much speed falling into the gravity well as it 
would lose climbing back out again. I was thinking of simple momentum. 
The black hole would have just a few atoms' worth of mass, so if it eats 
a few stationary atoms while taking its trip through the star's core 
it'll be slowed down considerably.

> Of course, that also means that even a slow micro black hole should
> not be dangerous even if it doesn't decay.  The timescale for ramping
> up to macroscopic size should be as near to eternity as makes no
> difference.

It snowballs rapidly, especially in a high-density and high-temperature 
region like a stellar core.