nebula Posted September 23, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.94 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Breaking the Speed of Light by Jason Major on September 22, 2011 It’s been a tenet of the standard model of physics for over a century. The speed of light is a unwavering and unbreakable barrier, at least by any form of matter and energy we know of. Nothing in our Universe can travel faster than 299,792 km/s (186,282 mph), not even – as the term implies – light itself. It’s the universal constant, the “c” in Einstein’s E = mc2, a cosmic speed limit that can’t be broken. That is, until now. An international team of scientists at the Gran Sasso research facility outside of Rome announced today that they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. The neutrinos, subatomic particles with very little mass, were contained within beams emitted from CERN 730 km (500 miles) away in Switzerland. Over a period of three years, 15,000 neutrino beams were fired from CERN at special detectors located deep underground at Gran Sasso. Where light would have made the trip in 2.4 thousandths of a second, the neutrinos made it in 60 nanoseconds – that’s 60 billionths of a second – a tiny difference to us but a huge difference to particle physicists! Read on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavedByGrace1981 Posted September 23, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 104 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 2,924 Content Per Day: 0.61 Reputation: 462 Days Won: 2 Joined: 04/02/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 03/22/1953 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Breaking the Speed of Light by Jason Major on September 22, 2011 It’s been a tenet of the standard model of physics for over a century. The speed of light is a unwavering and unbreakable barrier, at least by any form of matter and energy we know of. Nothing in our Universe can travel faster than 299,792 km/s (186,282 mph), not even – as the term implies – light itself. It’s the universal constant, the “c” in Einstein’s E = mc2, a cosmic speed limit that can’t be broken. That is, until now. An international team of scientists at the Gran Sasso research facility outside of Rome announced today that they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. The neutrinos, subatomic particles with very little mass, were contained within beams emitted from CERN 730 km (500 miles) away in Switzerland. Over a period of three years, 15,000 neutrino beams were fired from CERN at special detectors located deep underground at Gran Sasso. Where light would have made the trip in 2.4 thousandths of a second, the neutrinos made it in 60 nanoseconds – that’s 60 billionths of a second – a tiny difference to us but a huge difference to particle physicists! Read on here I'm not a scientist by a longshot, but stuff like this intrigues me. Can you put in laymen's terms what implications you think it might have? It seems to me that a lot of things man thought he knew - - - - are wrong! I'm reminded of a program I watched several years ago (it was no NOVA, I believe) where astronomers were using pulsars to measure the speed at which they believed the universe was expanding. (feel free to correct me on the details, my 58 year old memory gets things wrong sometimes!). Anyway, IIRC, they found that instead of the rate of expansion slowing down, it was actually accellerating. Again, I'm not sure what implications this had - other than to show that our greatest minds sometimes can still get things wrong. (I already knew that, but I think it's good that the greatest minds be reminded of that fact from time to time) Blessings! -Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldShep Posted September 23, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 20 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 934 Content Per Day: 0.20 Reputation: 137 Days Won: 6 Joined: 07/20/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/12/1950 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Breaking the Speed of Light by Jason Major on September 22, 2011 It’s been a tenet of the standard model of physics for over a century. The speed of light is a unwavering and unbreakable barrier, at least by any form of matter and energy we know of. Nothing in our Universe can travel faster than 299,792 km/s (186,282 mph), not even – as the term implies – light itself. It’s the universal constant, the “c” in Einstein’s E = mc2, a cosmic speed limit that can’t be broken. That is, until now. An international team of scientists at the Gran Sasso research facility outside of Rome announced today that they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. The neutrinos, subatomic particles with very little mass, were contained within beams emitted from CERN 730 km (500 miles) away in Switzerland. Over a period of three years, 15,000 neutrino beams were fired from CERN at special detectors located deep underground at Gran Sasso. Where light would have made the trip in 2.4 thousandths of a second, the neutrinos made it in 60 nanoseconds – that’s 60 billionths of a second – a tiny difference to us but a huge difference to particle physicists! Read on here Oop's I see a little typo....Light speed =186,282 miles per second, not mph. My physics professor was alway hitting me with -5 points for that slip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HisG Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 So what about Einsteins theory of relativity? What impact does it have on his theory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted September 23, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.94 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Oop's I see a little typo....Light speed =186,282 miles per second, not mph. Snork! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest agua Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 That is why a high level of caution and skepticism is required. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this measure must be reproduced and validated by several independent teams. I suspect a measurement error, but only time can tell. ^^ Still, Kostelecky repeats the old adage: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Even Ereditato says that one measurement does not extraordinary evidence make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldEnglishSheepdog Posted September 23, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 844 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 118 Days Won: 11 Joined: 12/23/2010 Status: Offline Share Posted September 23, 2011 So what about Einsteins theory of relativity? What impact does it have on his theory? That would have a major impact. Even if the measured speed is only slightly higher than the speed of light in vacuum, the theory assumes that this limit cannot be overcome with objects that can send information (there are other physical quantities that can go faster than light, but cannot be used to send information or to causally influence other events). If confirmed, that would imply that we can theoretically send messages to our past, thereby opening the doors for travel in past time. That is why a high level of caution and skepticism is required. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this measure must be reproduced and validated by several independent teams. I suspect a measurement error, but only time can tell. It'll have more of an impact than that, won't it? As I understand it Einsteinian physics could be up for a major overhaul if these findings are confirmed, as this assumption is a key component of special relativity. I agree that it seems most likely that it's a measuring error, but it sounds like they've done a pretty good job measuring so it'll be interesting to see. viole, neutrinos are particles aren't they? We were talking about this at work and we assumed they are but no one knew enough about it to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldEnglishSheepdog Posted September 23, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 844 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 118 Days Won: 11 Joined: 12/23/2010 Status: Offline Share Posted September 23, 2011 Breaking the Speed of Light by Jason Major on September 22, 2011 It’s been a tenet of the standard model of physics for over a century. The speed of light is a unwavering and unbreakable barrier, at least by any form of matter and energy we know of. Nothing in our Universe can travel faster than 299,792 km/s (186,282 mph), not even – as the term implies – light itself. It’s the universal constant, the “c” in Einstein’s E = mc2, a cosmic speed limit that can’t be broken. That is, until now. An international team of scientists at the Gran Sasso research facility outside of Rome announced today that they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. The neutrinos, subatomic particles with very little mass, were contained within beams emitted from CERN 730 km (500 miles) away in Switzerland. Over a period of three years, 15,000 neutrino beams were fired from CERN at special detectors located deep underground at Gran Sasso. Where light would have made the trip in 2.4 thousandths of a second, the neutrinos made it in 60 nanoseconds – that’s 60 billionths of a second – a tiny difference to us but a huge difference to particle physicists! Read on here I'm not a scientist by a longshot, but stuff like this intrigues me. Can you put in laymen's terms what implications you think it might have? It seems to me that a lot of things man thought he knew - - - - are wrong! I'm reminded of a program I watched several years ago (it was no NOVA, I believe) where astronomers were using pulsars to measure the speed at which they believed the universe was expanding. (feel free to correct me on the details, my 58 year old memory gets things wrong sometimes!). Anyway, IIRC, they found that instead of the rate of expansion slowing down, it was actually accellerating. Again, I'm not sure what implications this had - other than to show that our greatest minds sometimes can still get things wrong. (I already knew that, but I think it's good that the greatest minds be reminded of that fact from time to time) Blessings! -Ed Are you're talking about the redshift work that on which Dr. Lawrence Kraus was working? The implication is that the universe cannot be eternally expanding and contracting, as was previously theoried in Big Bang cosmology. It had to have a fixed starting point... and yes viole, I know your objection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldShep Posted September 24, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 20 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 934 Content Per Day: 0.20 Reputation: 137 Days Won: 6 Joined: 07/20/2011 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/12/1950 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Oop's I see a little typo....Light speed =186,282 miles per second, not mph. Snork! I'm old and I'm slow, and more then a little confused. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSnork may refer to:Snorks, a comic book, and later a cartoon series that began in the mid 80's and ended by the late 80's.Snork Maiden, a member of the species known as Snorks and a character in the writings and illustrations of Tove JanssonSnork, a member of the species known as Snorks and a character in the writings and illustrations of Tove Jansson. Brother of Snork Maiden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted September 24, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.94 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Oh, sorry Old Shep - "Snork!" is a the expression used for the sound one makes when one laughs through their nose. (You laugh, but your mouth is closed, so the sound comes out your nose somewhat.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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