The Large Hadron Collider, in my opinion, will not and does not have the potential to destroy the Earth. The project is backed by many people, and a good number of these people are scientists who have experience and knowledge in the area for which the project was built, thus it seems highly unlikely that they would fund and support such a project if they had doubts about its safety.
The particle accelerator has sparked some superstitious theories in the general public, but let us not forget that not too long ago cars, trains and planes had that ability to spark fear in ignorant individuals. All scientific progress seems strange when still new, but later we grow to accept it and even take it for granted, like with say the light bulb or the motor car, and such is in my opinion the case with the Large Hadron Collider, another cutting edge piece of technology that has sparked a reaction of fear in some portions of the public.
But these fears are in my opinion irrational and based upon only a limited and highly vague understanding of how the project operates. A common fear seems to be that the Collider will cause the creation of black holes, that could destroy the Earth. Firstly even if a black hole was created, it would likely be so small that it would have very little effect and be defeated quickly. Not all black holes would be like the ones in popular culture, large menacing magnets that distort and eventually destroy all about them. Governments and scientific organizations would not back a project that had possibilities of danger to the general public.
Of course, let’s not forget that even if the Earth were destroyed it would be irrational to fear or resent such an act taking place, as a fear of death is very unscientific and harks back to the days of primitive religious superstitions. But I highly doubt the Large Hadron Collider will cause the destruction of the Earth, as its backers, whilst scientists for the most part, are still of that human mindset ‘survival at any cost’, so popularly had.
Also these fears were tested. CERN, the constructors of the project, undertook two investigations regarding the matter, as did the American Physical Society, both respected authorities in the area, thus it is unlikely they overlooked anything.
In my opinion this is an interesting project, and is one of the great progressive projects of our day in physics.
