# Can humans create conditions not already existant in the universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2005, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407 "2005-03-20T09:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/1 "2005-03-20T09:19:04Z")
I read something very unsettling today in “Skeptic” magazine while browsing at the local bookstore. It was an excerpt from Richard A. Posner’s book “Catastrophe”- the part which caught my eye was about the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven Laboratory. I had heard speculation about potential disasters involving this type of collider before, but never that there were _three_ scenarios considered: a black hole, “strangelet” matter created by a certain kind of quark which could turn the world into a small sphere, and a “phase shift” which could destroy the whole universe. I was a little freaked out after reading this. I try to console myself with the thought that we can’t possibly create conditions the universe hasn’t already seen. Is this a correct assumption? - For example, are those artificial elements at the end of the periodic table truly man-made? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/2 "2005-03-20T09:56:19Z")
Well, many of the situations that scientists try to create with accelerators are those that existed in the first few moments of the Big Bang, for one thing… conditions that HAVE existed, but due to expansion/cooling of the universe, no longer do. So I guess the answer to your question is a sorta-kinda yes. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/3 "2005-03-20T12:24:40Z")
The strangelet doomsday scenario is almost certainly wildly overblown. This talk has been around for five years, but nothing seems to kill it. [http://www.phy.bnl.gov/users/inthenews/nd121200.html](http://www.phy.bnl.gov/users/inthenews/nd121200.html) > [@](#): > > An outside review team convened by Brookhaven director John Marburger > concluded earlier this year that such a catastrophe was ruled out by > fundamental principles of physics as well as by some empirical evidence. > The team noted, for example, that cosmic rays striking the surface of the > moon have triggered heavy-ion collisions for billions of years, yet no > rogue strangelet has devoured the moon. > > [snip] > > A stable strangelet, if it formed, would almost certainly have a positive > charge and therefore would be unable to interact with the positively > charged nuclei of ordinary atoms, according to Madsen. There would be > electrostatic repulsion, just as the positive poles of two bar magnets > repel each other. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/4 "2005-03-20T13:29:02Z")
Well, according to SF author Spider Robinson, the only way in which a strangelet can induce a phase collapse is if it is struck by a 1920s style death ray. That, unfortunately, is not another instance of a tired SMB in-joke, but a honest and literal summary of the physics background for the plot of one of his novels. As for the non-catastrophe aspects of the OP question, we have _undoubtedly_ induced effects not previously known to have existed anywhere in the Universe. Cryogenics has created temperatures well below the “background radiation temperature of the Universe.” I seem to recall that when the Bose condensate was created a year or two back, it was commented that this may very well be the first time one had existed, anywhere. Transuranic elements, on the other hand, are produced in supernovas (and conceivably by other non-catastrophic processes that provide adequate excess energy to counter the intensely endothermic nucleosynthesis). The signature for Cf-257 has been observed in supernovas. Technetium (not a transuranic but an unstable element) not only has been observed but is one of the standard identifying characteristics of one class of M stars. Np-237 and its daughers are certain to have existed in Earth’s early history, since the quantities of Bismuth are proportionate to those of the Lead isotopes, implying that some of each is primordial and some the end-products of a breakdown sequence. A small but measurable trace of Pu-239 is present in any Uranium ore. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/5 "2005-03-20T14:33:26Z")
> [@Rusalka](#): > > Universe gets destroyed, blah blah blah… I was a little freaked out after reading this. Why get freaked out? That’s actually really cool! I wonder what happens afterwards. If the universe gets destroyed, what’s left? Anything? Nothing? If nothing, will another big bang come along sometime soon? I mean, it’s just an amazing concept… undoing all of existence? No more space, no more time, no more no mores… eh? Boggles the mind. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/6 "2005-03-20T14:39:45Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Why get freaked out? That’s actually really cool! I wonder what happens afterwards. If the universe gets destroyed, what’s left? Anything? Nothing? If nothing, will another big bang come along sometime soon? > > I mean, it’s just an amazing concept… undoing all of existence? No more space, no more time, no more no mores… eh? Boggles the mind. Well I don’t know about **Rusalka** but the undoing of all existence would almost certainly put a big crimp in my “to do” list… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/7 "2005-03-20T14:45:12Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > As for the non-catastrophe aspects of the OP question, we have _undoubtedly_ induced effects not previously known to have existed anywhere in the Universe. Cryogenics has created temperatures well below the “background radiation temperature of the Universe.” IMHO “undoubtedly” is too strong, if only because of the possibly of alien civilizations doing similar experiments, if not simply from the possibility that such effects might happens naturally in ways not imagined yet. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/8 "2005-03-20T14:49:14Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > Well I don’t know about **Rusalka** but the undoing of all existence would almost certainly put a big crimp in my “to do” list… You’ve just got to make sure it’s the last item. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/9 "2005-03-20T15:15:03Z")
Meh. If the universe were destroyed there would be Nothing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/10 "2005-03-20T18:22:32Z")
The strangelet theory _is_ wildly overblown. Scientists have only created a stable strangelet once. In the 1960s. For 20 minutes. Not nearly long enough devour the earth. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/11 "2005-03-20T20:43:50Z")
Actually, I know nothing about strangelets. But from a strictly logical standpoint, if the universe was so unstable that the formation of a single odd particle could make it come completely unglued, it seems unlikely that it would have managed to survive almost 14 billion years so far. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/12 "2005-03-20T21:03:17Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > the undoing of all existence would almost certainly put a big crimp in my “to do” list… Not me. “Undo All Existence” is the very first thing on _my_ To Do list! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/13 "2005-03-21T01:14:34Z")
Yes. Man made vacuums can be far better than outer space. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/14 "2005-03-21T01:25:57Z")
> [@I Love Me](#): > > Not me. > > “Undo All Existence” is the very first thing on _my_ To Do list! It doesn’t happen to be the only one, does it? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-humans-create-conditions-not-already-existant-in-the-universe/295407/15 "2005-03-21T01:49:39Z")
Here’s one of the best articles I’ve yet found on the subject of particle accelerator doomsday scenarios: [A Black Hole Ate My Planet](http://www.kressworks.com/Science/A_black_hole_ate_my_planet.htm) From the looks of it, we should really be more concerned with world hunger, greenhouse gasses, or a potential breakup of the Backstreet Boys.