Ok, this is way OT, but ... they're making black holes in the lab now. Let's hope they don't let one out. :'o
http://news.com.com/In+labs+high-speed+collisions%2C+things+just+vanish/2100...
While they say they are different from the matter gobbling killer black holes, I'm not sure I buy the story completely. This accelorator is used by my old alma mater in NY and I was studying this field there. Never got a chance to do any experiments with it though. It seems to me they are similar types of blackholes, but due to the tiny mass they are not dangerous and if they'd stop and think about it a bit they might even get some insight into why massive blackholes decay over time. As it is likely that this type of black hole is created on a massive scale in the creation of killer blackholes. Now if only there was an efficient way of generating these mini "blackholes" we might be able to make a powerful engine for interstellar travel, although I suspect one could take the accelerator and make an effective engine out of it. If the accelerator can propel gold atoms to >.99 lightspeed that should be enough to propel a spacecraft at relativistic speeds. Of course this thing is quite large and I'm not sure what the fuel requirements would be. Maybe we could use something like tin instead of gold. ;')
(sorry about the OT post, but this was just a fun and cool subject.)
Brian D.
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/