Tuesday, December 30, 2008

What could go wrong?

Scientists plan to ignite tiny man made star

"While it has seemed an impossible goal for nearly 100 years, scientists now believe that they are on brink of cracking one of the biggest problems in physics by harnessing the power of nuclear fusion, the reaction that burns at the heart of the sun"

"In the spring, a team will begin attempts to ignite a tiny man-made star inside a laboratory and trigger a thermonuclear reaction. "We are creating the conditions that exist inside the sun," said Ed Moses, director of the facility."

Hey, what could go wrong?

The scientists at the Large Hadron Collider were excited too. They were going to make the biggest collisions ever undertaken in laboratory conditions that would will smash atoms into the smallest pieces ever observed, yielding precious clues as to what everything is made of and how the universe got here. Detractors of the experiment were not as excited, they said the possibility of things going awry would not remain in the lab, 600 feet below the Alps at the Swiss/French border. No, anything going wrong with trying to recreate the Big Bang would mean another Big Bang, and a black hole. Scientists said, well, true, but THAT possibility is so infinitesimal! Where's your sense of que sera sera? Party poopers.

When the big moment came, the LHC overheated instantly and they rapidly shut it down. Scientists scratched their heads, they thought they had had the cooling thing under control.

Attempting to duplicate the workings of God never work out for man. Scientific exploration is great, it advances our understanding of the world God made. It also aids us in making things more comfortable here on earth. Nuclear fusion is a great, also, and I can get just as excited about it as the next science geek.

But assuming that we can duplicate His works, exceed them even...now that's another story. We have tried this before. They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."..."And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." (Genesis 11:4,6)

Getting too big for their bootstraps, thinking they could enter heaven the man-made way, God took care of the situation. Whether this fusion experiment works out or not, whether it goes awry or produces its intended outcome...remains to be seen. One thing is for sure. God is in control.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everything was written years before those scientists were born. It came as no suprise to God that they would explore in that fashion. I think God created us to question so that we can find answers and those answers will lead us closer to him rather than push us away. Einstein and Franklin figured that out and they were pretty bright guys. I'm not sure Jefferson ever really figured it out but maybe he did too.

Chuck

Anonymous said...

Kinda ironic you're criticizing science on a computer hooked up to a world wide network of technology created by...science.

Elizabeth Prata said...

maybe you kinda like, missed the part where I said science is great. Or, like, kinda missed the whole point of the post, which is that when man assumes that science is for himself and thinks he is exceeding God, trouble starts.

But, kinda, thanks for sharing.