Neutrinos Faster than Light Once Again
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011Nov. 29, 2011
Incredibly tiny subatomic particles called neutrinos may travel faster than light, according to a series of experiments conducted in Europe. The results were first announced in September and repeated in a refined experiment announced in November. The particles were produced at the CERN laboratory on the German-Swiss border. They then traveled about 450 miles (730 kilometers) through the ground to a giant detector in Italy. The neutrinos reportedly arrived a 0.000000058 second faster than a light beam would have.
In the early 1900′s, the physicist Albert Einstein concluded that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light–about 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second in empty space. The idea was part of a larger concept called the theory of relativity. The theory has been a cornerstone of modern physics ever since. Many of the ideas in the theory have been proven through different experiments over the years.
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory consists of a large spherical water tank surrounded by sensors. The sensors detect flashes of light that occur when neutrinos interact with the water. Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.
If it is true that the speed of light is not a dead end, the most widely accepted theories of modern physics may need to be revised. However, neutrinos are rather unusual in nature. They probably have some mass. But this mass is so small that scientists have not yet been able to measure it directly. Neutrinos do not interact with ordinary matter easily. Many millions produced by the sun pass through our body everyday. The ghostly nature of neutrinos or a simple error in the experiment may yet undo these controversial results.
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