Roll over Einstein: Pillar of physics challenged

CERN claims faster-than-light particle measured

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GENEVA (AP) -- Scientists at the world's largest physics lab say they have clocked subatomic particles traveling faster than light. If that's true, it would break - if not severely twist - a fundamental pillar of physics.

Nothing is supposed to go faster than light. But scientists say that neutrinos - one of the strangest well-known particles in physics - smashed past the cosmic speed barrier of 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers).

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This is really exciting if it's confirmed. This could change a lot of things. I always wondered if this would be achieved at CERN. Now if we could just find a way to harness such a power in such a small space, then the possibilities for space and energy could be nearly endless. I am eager to view the results.

Speed-of-light experiments yield baffling result at LHC

"....The results will soon be online to draw closer scrutiny to a result that, if true, would upend a century of physics."

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reply to post by DragonFire1024


It's about time someone started a new era in physics! Interested to hear more about this, I read it from reuters news earlier!

I've always wondered about the so-called speed of light "speed barrier".

Recall that not so long ago the speed of sound was also thought to be an impenetrable barrier - until someone did it.

Now we do it all the time.

This would be a truly remarkable discovery if proven correct.
S&F nice find.

Originally posted by DragonFire1024

CERN says a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.

So the way I calculate it, the time according to the speed of light to travel the distance of 730km (at 299,792 kilometers per second) is 2.4 milliseconds.

So the increase in speed is 0.0025 percent faster than it should have been.

I say this for no reason. I just wanted to calculate it for myself.

Sounds pretty cool. Light up those warp engines Scotty!!

I guess my only question about the entire issue, is how does one measure something that travels faster than light? Or even better determine just how much faster.....

Odd to say the least!

So we get Speed of Neutrino? Not catchy. I mean, we already have "faster than the speed of light"... but that takes too long to say and is incredibly broad in case they find multiple things with speeds that are faster than light. So what should we call this new speed? How about the speed of energy? Or is that already calculated?

I wouldn't doubt the existance of stuff whipping around uncomprehensibly faster than the speed of light, making up whatever this is.

Do they have a speed of Magnetism???or does that fall in the category with the above posted speed of energy??

reply to post by DragonFire1024


W00t FTL travel here we come. some day...

Hmm...

It is really hard to draw any kind of conclusions from this. For those who want the most pertinent quotes:

CERN says a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds, making the difference statistically significant. But given the enormity of the find, they still spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there was no flaws in the experiment.

He cautioned that the neutrino researchers would also have to explain why similar results weren't detected before, such as when an exploding star - or supernova - was observed in 1987.

We're -not- talking substantially faster than the speed of light, here. However, if duplicated, it would require a substantial revision of our current models - which may open up new avenues for discovering and exploiting more extreme FTL phenomena (that would be more practical).

The reputation of Albert Einstein hangs in the balance...

This is so neutrinolicious!!!

I hope this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. Phenomenon like Quantum Entanglement and the EPR Paradox literally function on FTL travel...

A quality piece of work by our friends...the scientists

It still amazes me at what so little we truly know about the universe we exist in.
It always a game of catchup, but im sure one day we will unravel the mysteries of the universe and life.....not in my lifetime...but maybe in 100 years time

A neutron walked into a bar and asked, "How much for a drink?" The bartender replied, "For you, no charge."

I'm sure I read somewhere that Einstein's stuff doesn't allow things to accelerate beyond the speed of light. Conversely, if a something starts starts out as a FTL object it can't decelerate to STL speeds.

I can't remember where I dug this nugget up from & was wondering if anyone could shed some light (ha!) on that for me...please.

I'd prefer not to be flamed for being an ignoramus, this field isn't my strong suit at all.

Nothing can move faster than the speed of light... Fist question why is light so special that nothing can move faster than it.. So now its nuetrino's.. So how long before they figure out how to see spin 0-2-3 particals then it will be the gravitron. atleast they proved a 1/2 spin partical can move faster than light.

I was under the impression that the speed of light was a "limit", not a "barrier". Which means that no physical entity could reach the speed of light. I recall working some equations back in college on contracting dimensions and increases in mass for objects travelling close to the speed of light, and upon examining the equations that we were given (probably simplified for us "unsophisticated" undergraduates), it seemed to me that teh equations also worked for objects that travelled at speeds faster than the speed of light. For such faster-than-light objects, they could never slow down to approach light speed due to the same dimensional and mass restrictions, and were forever destined to go much faster that light but somehow never able to slow down.

Are there any physics majors who might be able to address this?