Every time a great particle accelerator comes into operation, a question that fascinates and scares returns: “What if it created a black hole?It’s an idea that has been around for years, fueled by films and science fiction, but which has no basis in real physics. Understanding why helps us distinguish between what is possible and what is just imagination.
Because accelerators can’t create black holes
The accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN typically collide protons at very high energies on a subatomic scale, but tiny compared to those we deal with in everyday life. THE cosmic rays that hit the Earth’s atmosphere every day reach energies millions of times higher than those obtainable in the laboratory. If such collisions could create destructive black holes, Earth wouldn’t be here for billions of years.
Some speculative hypotheses on quantum gravity theoretically predict – but at the moment there is no confirmation – the possibility of micro‑black holestiny objects that they would evaporate immediately (via Hawking radiation) e they wouldn’t have enough mass to grow, nor to interact with the surrounding matter.
CERN has repeatedly published independent analyzes that exclude any risk. The key point is simple: even if a micro‑black hole were produced, it would be unstable, it would evaporate immediately And it could not possibly swallow matter. These conclusions are based on verified physical models and experimental data collected over decades of cosmic observations.
Similarities and differences with astrophysical black holes
THE black holes we know they have astrophysical origins: they arise from the collapse of a very massive star or from the catastrophic explosion of a white dwarf. They therefore have masses equal to many times that of the Sun – the most massive ones we know of reach tens of billions of solar masses – and a gravity such as to drastically deform the surrounding space-time.
A hypothetical micro‑black holeon the other hand, would have an infinitesimal mass, would not have a stable event horizon, could not grow and would cease to exist almost immediately.
Accelerators therefore cannot create “dangerous” black holes, but a explore the fundamental laws of the universe. They allow us to study the structure of matter, fundamental interactions, the nature of mass and possible new particles. They are tools that have led to revolutionary discoveries, such as the first detection of the Higgs boson, and that continue to push technology beyond current limits.
