Wayne Throop wrote:
> :: The chance of two high-energy cosmic rays colliding near Earth is
> :: already ridiculously low. The chance that both have energies
> :: comparable to the proposed collider is a microscopic fraction of
> :: that. The chance that they have momenta oppositely directed to
> :: within even a millionth of a percent in one chosen axis is a
> :: lottery-winning fraction of that.
>
> Yet, cosmic rays hit "stationary" particles all the time, right?
> And sometimes with many times the energy of a CERN particle, right?
> So... choose a frame in which the "stationary" particle is moving with
> the same speed as the cosmic ray, in the opposite direction.
I think the point here is to have the net momentum of the resulting
micro black hole relative to Earth be very small, so that the micro
black hole won't just go zinging off into deep space after it's created
and will instead stick around to eat. In that case you can't pick
arbitrary reference frames, velocities have to be measured relative to
Earth.
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