Happy Face 29 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Puzzling results from Cern, home of the LHC, have confounded physicists - because it appears subatomic particles have exceeded the speed of light. Neutrinos sent through the ground from Cern toward the Gran Sasso laboratory 732km away seemed to show up a tiny fraction of a second early. The result - which threatens to upend a century of physics - will be put online for scrutiny by other scientists. In the meantime, the group says it is being very cautious about its claims. "We tried to find all possible explanations for this," said report author Antonio Ereditato of the Opera collaboration. "We wanted to find a mistake - trivial mistakes, more complicated mistakes, or nasty effects - and we didn't," he told BBC News. "When you don't find anything, then you say 'Well, now I'm forced to go out and ask the community to scrutinise this.'" Caught speeding? The speed of light is the Universe's ultimate speed limit, and much of modern physics - as laid out in part by Albert Einstein in his special theory of relativity - depends on the idea that nothing can exceed it. Thousands of experiments have been undertaken to measure it ever more precisely, and no result has ever spotted a particle breaking the limit. But Dr Ereditato and his colleagues have been carrying out an experiment for the last three years that seems to suggest neutrinos have done just that. Neutrinos come in a number of types, and have recently been seen to switch spontaneously from one type to another. The team prepares a beam of just one type, muon neutrinos, sending them from Cern to an underground laboratory at Gran Sasso in Italy to see how many show up as a different type, tau neutrinos. In the course of doing the experiments, the researchers noticed that the particles showed up a few billionths of a second sooner than light would over the same distance. The team measured the travel times of neutrino bunches some 15,000 times, and have reached a level of statistical significance that in scientific circles would count as a formal discovery. But the group understands that what are known as "systematic errors" could easily make an erroneous result look like a breaking of the ultimate speed limit, and that has motivated them to publish their measurements. "My dream would be that another, independent experiment finds the same thing - then I would be relieved," Dr Ereditato said. But for now, he explained, "we are not claiming things, we want just to be helped by the community in understanding our crazy result - because it is crazy". "And of course the consequences can be very serious." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooner 243 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 oops didn't see your topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lake Bells tits 1 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 thick as shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 It's cause they are in two places at once (neutrinos). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2207 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 We should just ask the Greys to draw us a roadmap. Would savea lot of time and expense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I thought neutrinos was a breakfast cereal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 30679 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 He was never the same since he split with Oxide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajax_andy 0 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Do they know if the neutrinos were originally going slower than the speed of light and accelerated past it, or came in to existance at faster than the speed of light? I read somewhere that according to Einstein it is possible for mass to travel faster than the speed of light if it came in to existance already travelling at that speed, but it would never be able to slow down to a speed lower than the speed of light, and vice versa for anything that comes in to existance slower than the speed of light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2207 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Do they know if the neutrinos were originally going slower than the speed of light and accelerated past it, or came in to existance at faster than the speed of light? I read somewhere that according to Einstein it is possible for mass to travel faster than the speed of light if it came in to existance already travelling at that speed, but it would never be able to slow down to a speed lower than the speed of light, and vice versa for anything that comes in to existance slower than the speed of light. It's all about opinions, isn't it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 In your opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2207 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 In your opinion. And Rodney Marsh's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Neutrino has negligble mass. Have been observed to exist in two places at once. Bad exapmple for this argument. Typical Guardian dabble at science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2207 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Neutrino would be a good name for a superhero. Or maybe a brand name like Coffee Neutrino or Bar Neutrino. That's my contribution to the debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10876 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 This is my contribution to the debate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welsh Magpie 0 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Neutrino has negligble mass. Have been observed to exist in two places at once. Bad exapmple for this argument. Typical Guardian dabble at science. it's not just the guardian thats reporting this bbc and sky are too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toonotl 2988 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Isn't there a quote along the lines of, 'anyone that says they understand quantum physics is a liar', or something similar. I'm not going to pretend I understand this shit for one second, or nanosecond, or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 You can trawl my posts on here and somewhere in the distant past I already predicted the end of the speed of light constant. Einstein is my bitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meenzer 15561 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Now if you can just can perfect being in two places at the same time, neutrino-style, your relationship troubles will be over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Now if you can just can perfect being in two places at the same time, neutrino-style, your relationship troubles will be over. The appliance of science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toonpack 9478 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 (edited) This is my contribution to the debate The batmobindianelephant Is the African version faster ??? Edited September 23, 2011 by Toonpack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21643 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 You can trawl my posts on here and somewhere in the distant past I already predicted the end of the speed of light constant. Einstein is my bitch. Since your so clever at science can't you find this post yourself Parky? I'd be genuinely interested in seeing a prediction like this, it'd be almost like you went back in time to post it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21643 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Isn't there a quote along the lines of, 'anyone that says they understand quantum physics is a liar', or something similar. I'm not going to pretend I understand this shit for one second, or nanosecond, or whatever. 'Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.' - Neils Bohr. I've read a few lay books on comsology, particle physics and quantum mechanics but I don't claim to understand any of it. Still interesting though; it's the only area of science left where we haven't got much of a clue, and it's science at its most fundamental and grand too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toonotl 2988 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Have you read 'The Fabric of Reality'? That's not a bad one and goes into quantum theory and its implications on string theory, multiverse type theories. Not a bad read. Quite interesting. A bit dry at times though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooner 243 Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 (edited) http://www.escapistm...Physics-Is-Safe so as it turns out, maybe not so thick. Edited October 19, 2011 by tooner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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