Particle Accelerator or Black Hole Machine
The Large Hadron Accelerator is a particle collider built on the Franco-Swiss border by CERN(Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) or the European Organization for Nuclear Resaerch, that was completed in 2007. The collider is the most powerful one built to date, and it raised fears among the public that it might produce micro black holes. The scientists working on the project did many investigations into the saftey of the machine in order to quell the fears of the public before activating it on September 10 2007 and successfully colliding two particles.
The particle accelerator comes at a time of booming technological development, cell phones have replaced pay phones almost completely, voice over Internet protocol makes traditional phone services obsolete, commercial space flight is on the cusp of reality, and astrophysicists confirm the universe to be 13.7 billion years old. The 2000's are a time when awareness of the impact humans have had on the planet is at an all time high. And, science is the hope of billions, it provides the solution to global warning and hunger if just given the time it can achieve anything.
(The same as time depicted) The particle accelerator comes at a time of booming technological development, cell phones have replaced pay phones almost completely, voice over Internet protocol makes traditional phone services obsolete, commercial space flight is on the cusp of reality, and astrophysicists confirm the universe to be 13.7 billion years old. The 2000's are a time when awareness of the impact humans have had on the planet is at an all time high. And, science is the hope of billions, it provides the solution to global warning and hunger if just given the time it can achieve anything.
This case study would be used to demonstrate to the class a case in which you have a group of scientists that ask themselves all of the necessary questions before conducting an experiment. The scientists even come up with all of the possible outcomes, good or bad, of their experiment. And they proceed only when they have put to rest the publics fear that their creation willl destroy the world. I think this case study would thus provide a contrast to the “mad” scientist that lacks foresight by examining the motives behind the scientists building the accelerator. A mad scientist's work often ends badly due to his lack of foresight, but the scientists working on the particle accelerator put alot of effort into researching all of the possible outcomes in order to assure that nothing catastrophic would occur.
Cern Website: http://public.web.cern.ch/public/ New York Times Article: But It's Just a Small Black Hole http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/opinion/06sun4.html
First I would assign the article from the New York times to illustrate the possible problems associated with the development of the accelerator. Then I would show the youtube video "Large Hadron Rap" to show how the accelorator actually works. Then finally I would assign an article produced by the CERN to illustrate that the scientists involved did ample research into the possible negative outcomes of their work before they began work on the accelorator. These assignments as a whole would be used to illustrate how science that is contreversial or raises public doubt amongst society should be carried forth. This would act as a foil to the mad scientist that takes nothing into account when carrying out his or her research.