Andrew, your answer didn't entirely make sense to me (probably because of my limited understanding of the matter)...
Do I understand you to say that: although individual gamma rays may have more energy than "individual" photons in the LHC, that the LHC has a SUM energy of all of the photons circulating in it greater than any gamma ray to have struck earth?
Further, are you saying that: although the SUM energy in the LHC might be very great, that when there is a collision, it involves only 2 photons and is therefore not as powerful as, say, all of the photons in the LHC simultaneously colliding, or even one gamma ray striking somewhere in the earth?
My only question is this: The articles I read on-line repeatedly state that "Cosmic rays more powerful strike the earth all of the time (at least 100,000 times in its history)." And yet, I also constantly read articles that claim, "energies not seen since the big bang." Further, I ask myself, "well, the cosmic rays may be traveling at near the speed of light, but the particles they strike in the earth are not anywhere near the speed of light." This accelerator takes beams moving near the speed of light in both directions to double the energy upon collision.
So, where does the truth lie? Will the LHC create energies not seen since the Big Bang, or will it create energies that have been created 100,000s of times on the earth?
I hate to say it, but in this layman's mind, that's an important question... It seems to me one contradicts the other and we're going into powerful unknown territory if one of those statements is true.
Actually, at the beginning of the video, it states unequivocally that the video is 'wholly computer generated,' which, in fact, is an outright lie, since only the woman's face is computer generated and the rest of her is real! I'm impressed with what they've accomplished, but that's really fraudulent.
Do I understand you to say that: although individual gamma rays may have more energy than "individual" photons in the LHC, that the LHC has a SUM energy of all of the photons circulating in it greater than any gamma ray to have struck earth?
Further, are you saying that: although the SUM energy in the LHC might be very great, that when there is a collision, it involves only 2 photons and is therefore not as powerful as, say, all of the photons in the LHC simultaneously colliding, or even one gamma ray striking somewhere in the earth?
So, where does the truth lie? Will the LHC create energies not seen since the Big Bang, or will it create energies that have been created 100,000s of times on the earth?
I hate to say it, but in this layman's mind, that's an important question... It seems to me one contradicts the other and we're going into powerful unknown territory if one of those statements is true.