Einstein possibly wrong about the speed of light

[Forkie]

Small, but fascinating article.

Neutrinos have been detected appearing to move faster than the speed of light. Being firing through a particle accelerator and arriving at the end earlier than they should have - indeed, earlier than a beam of light would have done.

I guess we'll have to wait until they have re-run the test many times before jumping on it, but it's exciting!

BBC article and short video

 

[StringThing]

It wouldn't be the first time that Einstein was mistaken about a procedure or theory but the nice thing about the scientific method is that it allows for correction and gains from them (much like photography).

If they can independently verify it then it will be one of the greatest discoveries of recent times.

Very exciting times indeed!

 

[Kerbouchard]

I'm more interested in the possibility that they discovered the Higgs Boson.

Looks like this experiment seems to be paying off...just wish the U.S. would have done it instead of Europe. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous.

Congrats to the Europeans for taking physics a huge step forward.

 

[Overread]

Scientists are never wrong - they are just maybe right for a given amount of data

 

[Forkie]

I'm more interested in the possibility that they discovered the Higgs Boson.

Looks like this experiment seems to be paying off...just wish the U.S. would have done it instead of Europe. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous.

Congrats to the Europeans for taking physics a huge step forward.

Well, you can't have everything you know!

 

[Patrice]

Fernand Braudel in 'History of Civilizations' opines there were 4 major accomplishments marking the history of industrialization in the western hemisphere: steam engine, electricity, internal combustion engine and nuclear energy. This just might be the harbinger of a fifth.

 

[spacefuzz]

It will be interesting to see where the data leads!

 

[Tomasko]

I'm more interested in the possibility that they discovered the Higgs Boson.

Looks like this experiment seems to be paying off...just wish the U.S. would have done it instead of Europe. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous.

Congrats to the Europeans for taking physics a huge step forward.

Congrats to the Europeans? Not to the actual scientists? What does it matter where does the experiment take place??? What would it change if the experiment took place in US? You'd feel more happy? More honored? More proud? LOL? All credit goes to the scientists, don't take it from them. Even if the experiment was done in US, you didn't move a finger to make it happen.
You Americans are quite strange. Someone 500 miles away made a discovery and you're all proud. Someone 501 miles away made a discovery and you're all mad and jealous..... Very interesting

 

[bogeyguy]

Show me the money.

 

[marmots]

actually the whole neutrino thing doesn't prove anything

they are not affected by the equation e=mc^2, because they are not matter, they have no mass, and therefore are not bound by this equation...people are just taking this discovery wrong

they are a rudimentary particle much like protons, and neutrons, however they have completely different properties

they don't even interact with the electromagnetic field surrounding all matter, therefore dont interact with matter at all

 

[Derrel]

I am hoping this will lead to shorter cook times for microwave pizzas and microwave lasagna. Hopefully, the people at Stouffer's will try and harness new theories in an effort to get us our microwaved pizzas, lasagnas, and pizza pockets as much as one to perhaps even two full seconds more quickly.

 

[Kerbouchard]

Uhm, the Scientists didn't fund it or build it. Just like the Astronauts did not build the Space Shuttle that went to the moon. Of course they deserve credit, but that wasn't the point of my post.

Yes, there are some achievements that bring about a sense of National Pride. I can understand with you living in Slovakia that you might be unfamiliar with that feeling.

I'm more interested in the possibility that they discovered the Higgs Boson.

Looks like this experiment seems to be paying off...just wish the U.S. would have done it instead of Europe. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous.

Congrats to the Europeans for taking physics a huge step forward.

Congrats to the Europeans? Not to the actual scientists? What does it matter where does the experiment take place??? What would it change if the experiment took place in US? You'd feel more happy? More honored? More proud? LOL? All credit goes to the scientists, don't take it from them. Even if the experiment was done in US, you didn't move a finger to make it happen.
You Americans are quite strange. Someone 500 miles away made a discovery and you're all proud. Someone 501 miles away made a discovery and you're all mad and jealous..... Very interesting

 

[Tomasko]

actually the whole neutrino thing doesn't prove anything

they are not affected by the equation e=mc^2, because they are not matter, they have no mass, and therefore are not bound by this equation...people are just taking this discovery wrong

they are a rudimentary particle much like protons, and neutrons, however they have completely different properties

they don't even interact with the electromagnetic field surrounding all matter, therefore dont interact with matter at all

Actually, you're wrong here. They HAVE small, but definitely non-zero mass.

 

[analog.universe]

Neutrinos are actually matter, and due to their interaction with gravitational fields, have been shown to have mass, even though it's quite small (1/500,000 the mass of an electron or something). They do not interact with the electromagnetic field, but they do interact with the weak nuclear force, so their interactions with surrounding matter would be limited to the scale constraints of that force. These interactions would then be near zero in probability, but not zero in reality. Technically the production of the neutrino itself (a product of nuclear decay) should be considered an interaction.

They ran the thing 16,000 times, so I'm curious to see where this all ends up. When they did this experiment in the 80's, it was determined that the experimental error was too large to be conclusive (even though it represented a similar speed with respect to c). This time the data is much better... we still need to try it again with a different setup, but it looks like we'll need a place in quantum theory for an explanation.

 

[Alpha500]

In all honesty though, how does it affect us?

I personally think the Cern project is a waste of money as is studying such things as solar flares. Ok so we will have a better understanding of such events and what not, but I think Mother Nature has proven she is an unstoppable force and us mere mortals just need to ride the wave and go with the flow.

I've always thought from a young age whilst still at school being taught such things as physics, How do they know?

There is so much science that is only theory, such as the Theory of relativity.

Theory being the operative word, if there is no hard evidence then I don't believe it based on an assumption. I also believe the that by the time we can actually benefit from a project such as Cern the Human race will be no more.

Rather than invest billions in experiments that are unlikely to benefit us, the worlds governments should invest in such things as renewable energy rather than go to war with the middle east in the conquest of securing oil and gas and other fossil fuels. We as a race are raping the earth of it's natural resources which in turn has and adverse effect on the planet which inevitably will lead to our destruction as a race.

By the way I'm no tree hugger but if you look at the events of the past 10 years and the wars that have raged over the need for fuel, and the natural disasters that have been occurring supposedly as a result of Global warming, I can see only one future be it in my lifetime or not.

At the same time I don't dwell on this as there is absolutely nothing I can do to change events, so cay sera sera, what ever will be, will be the futures not ours to see.