What if CERN creates a black hole? Consequences explored ahead of July 5 event 

CERN's Large Hadron Collider will start its third run on July 5, smashing protons into each other at unparalleled strength. The LHC, one of the largest and most powerful accelerators in the world, is located at CERN's Switzerland facility.

The project has been in the making for three years. Their website announced:

“The Large Hadron Collider is ready to once again start delivering proton collisions to experiments, this time at an unprecedented energy of 13.6 TeV.”

With many looking forward to the proton particle collision, some are worried about the record-breaking acceleration possibly creating a black hole.

---

Will CERN create a black hole?

A black hole is a region in space which no particles, including electromagnetic radiations like light, can escape from. The term was coined by American astronomer John Wheeler in 1967.

Albert Einstein predicted its existence in 1926. Cygnus X-1, located in the Milky Way, was the first black hole ever discovered. According to the Space Telescope Science Institute, one out of every thousand stars is big enough to be a black hole, which means there could be 100 million black holes in our galaxy. However, NASA has estimated that there are 10 million black holes in the Milky Way.

The closest black hole to Earth is 'The Unicorn', which is located approximately 1,500 light-years away.

According to CERN’s official website, the LHC will not create black holes. While some “tiny" quantum black holes may be possibly formed, the website stated that it would still be “perfectly safe.”

Explaining that Einstein's theory of relativity proves it is impossible for microscopic black holes to be produced by the LHC, the website stated:

"There are, however, some speculative theories that predict the production of such particles at the LHC. All these theories predict that these particles would disintegrate immediately. Black holes, therefore, would have no time to start accreting matter and to cause macroscopic effects."

If the LHC does manage to create a black hole, it would be microscopic in size and incredibly small in quantum levels. According to What If, if a black hole is potentially created, it will not leave the accelerator and destroy the planet.

In other theories, if a black hole is created by the LHC, it would confirm that our universe is not four dimensional alone but also hosts many more dimensions.

---

Netizens connect LHC’s particle collision to Stranger Things

Fans of the Netflix show Stranger Things were convinced that the LHC would open new portals to other dimensions, similar to the series. In the popular show, a scientific experiment gone wrong leads to the opening of a portal to another world called the Upside Down, which is filled with disturbing and dangerous creatures who find their way to the other side.

Netizens believe that LHC’s latest run will lead to extraterrestrial creatures finding their way to Earth. However, the organization has not announced any plans to discover “new portals.” The European organization allowing extra terrestrial creatures into the Earth also remains highly unlikely.

---

What is the LHC?

In simple terms, the LHC is a device that enhances the energy present in subatomic particles in a controlled manner. Scientists will be observing how the particles interact with each other following its activation.

According to CERN's website, the LHC is the most powerful particle accelerator in the world and:

"Consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way."

It was first fired up on 10 September 2008.