Particle accelerator can wipe out Earth

A huge physics experiment in Switzerland might cause a black hole on Earth, but it will not swallow our planet.

When CERN first activated its Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, the media was full of semi-serious prophecies of the end of the world.

The accelerator was designed to collide protons, and more, at a much greater force than ever before. According to scientists, that could cause a quantum black hole. In the most extreme interpretations, the dark hole would attract more mass, finally swallowing our planet.

However, a commission dismissed the risk. The formation of a quantum black hole requires energies 39 times the level that the accelerator can produce. And if formed, it would immediately disappear again.