What will be the result of the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider in May?

They are starting it at a lower energy than Fermilab's Tevatron, which is operated safely all of the time. I would guess no interesting results until they increase to full power...but I still think there will be an article on BBC about it being started up....So, what if there is a mention of it, but no discoveries? What if they find something interesting a month after they start it up? A little too vague for my bet...

I do, however, like the question... Interesting reading about the whole thing...Thanks!

I'm hedging my bets on the destruction of all life option. We'll all be gone but as the blackhole swallows us all in I will have the satifaction of knowing I got a really good return on some H$.

It's amazing the number of bets people are willing to place on Hubdub collapsing / life on earth ending / balances being reset. You may get a split second of satisfaction folks, but don't forget - the leaderboard only updates once an hour!

considering that they already have over 10 articles on the bbc website on the collider i think thtat definitly there will be one more about the opening.

An article about its opening is not an article about interesting results, so unless they mention some interesting results in that story (and of course nothing else happens) still "Nothing, no damage, or interesting results" should win.

Whatever the result; even no result, will be found to be interesting by the scientific community. Option one cannot be defined in my opinion.

Only 1% chance of life on earth ending? Phew. I can relax.

There is of course a chance that there will be a strangelet cascade or that a high energy black hole could stabilize and devour earth, in so far as there is a chance that any of us could spontaneously quantum tunnel to the center of earth and explode. Plus, as chris points out, if the matter in your body and of your world turns to strange matter, or if you are sucked into a black hole, there are larger concerns than how much hubdub money you have won as a result. Amazing people would bet on these out comes.

There have been no reports of Austin Powers Being aware of this. Any scenario could be likely because we don't 'really' know who is behind this do we?

Hey, when we all get suck through a black hole, Hubdub.com will get sucked through with us, won't they? I mean, they'll still be settling markets won't they? I don't like this type of question. ... hmmm, Nigel? Is this another one of those nasty dead pool questions deguised as a Science question? You guys are getting real sly. real sly indeed!

I assumed the black hole meant we would all be s.o.l.
You can learn something new every day on hubdub !

the result of switching on the collider is that it starts, and then, slowly builds up to maximum effectiveness (whatever that might be). So, this question can not be settled until at least major something (more than an honorable mention on the BBC site) happens.

but i really think mork is right. do we "really" know who is behind this?

Well, I for one have 5 on the end of life on earth, just in case.....

Why is there no option for "people from the future come and visit us"? I heard a possibility that the switch-on could set the year-zero for time travel - so we could get some time tourists? Im a geek.

snickers at caveman's comment (but it could be true)

Hold on. There's sure to be articles in papers around the world when this thing fires up for the first time, but it will only be working at a fraction of its full potential. Does there have to be specific mention of the findings in the article? I mean, does the fact that it fired, or the fact that it found something have to merit the article?

No collisions will take place until the thing has been running for two months, and even then it starts up in June.

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/journal/article?issue=14/2008&name=CERNBulletin&category=News%20Articles&number=2&ln=en

There does not need to be any mention of specific findings, the last option only requires a newspaper article about it starting up. This was the clarification that was made a few months ago.

What's happening with this one? Will it be suspended until when (and if) it's finally turned on..?

Are we settling based on the thing being on or being tested? It looks like pieces of it are on now, but it won't start actually smashing particles until later this year. The smashing part is what could *possibly* cause all the damage, so I would lean toward unsuspending until then? Opinions?

According to the article vee21 referenced, I propose unsuspending this question with a new suspension date mid august, maybe.

i agree. someone should flag this to get the editor's attention.

@infernalmachine: i just did

Hi,

Looking at this market. I'm very confused when it was created it asked about what would happen in May. But the settlement rules refer to June. According to the rules this market should really be voided. Because the outcome is not listed in the settlement options. What does everyone think?

Regard,

Ryan
Hubdub Category Editor

My advice:
"Common Sense"
Reword the title so that the month May is not in it.
Reset the suspend date to August.
Provide additional background information plus link to the articles in which is explained the warming up phase before the actual activation of the thing.

Since epicur is no longer around (I'm sorry for that): Has anyone else an other opinion about this?

I second krujis.

Hmmm....

After looking at the market I'm going to reluctantly void it. There is to much confusion around the market, and if we were to change the market from what it originally stated, we'd have users wanting their wagers refunded.

Regards,

Ryan
Hubdub Category Editor

It's a pity.