Breaking the universal speed limit
As dotnet reported yesterday, European scientists announced that some subatomic particles have been measured has having traveled faster than the speed of light. The particles, ghostly little phantoms called neutrinos, were measured as having a very small fraction of a per cent faster than lightspeed. Small percentage, no big deal, right?
Wrong. No material object, whether it be a spaceship, a Staballoy, or a neutrino, can attain the speed of light. It would take an infinite amount of energy to do that, which is impossible. Basically, the speed of light as the ultimate speed limit is one of the constants on which our understanding is based, and on which another European scientist, Albert Einstein, based his Theory of Relativity. The famed equation of mass-energy equivalence, E=mc^2, uses the speed of light as one of its factors (the "c"). Relativity has withstood all experimental tests since he propounded the first installment of it (Special Relativity) 106 years ago.
So what if the troublesome little neutrinos did travel faster than light? There will need to be considerable reworking of theories and an altering of our understanding of the universe. What it will not mean is that Relativity will be junked. Nope, if you are using an old-style CRT computer monitor or an old-style television with a CRT screen, the functioning of those screens is based on an understanding of Relativity. Likewise, those of you with GPS devices in your cars owe Einstein your thanks: those gadgets would not work correctly without an understanding of the relavistic effects of the GPS satellites' speed on their accuracy, ditto the effects of being higher in Earth's gravitational field.
At the moment, most scientists say that these results will not hold up, an opinion I share as a non-scientist. But, they are keeping an open mind. If they do hold up, a new scientific frontier will open, as momentous an event as AE's opening of a new frontier 106 years ago.
Below is a link to a slightly technical discussion of the speedy neutrinos, by Caltech research physicist Sean M. Carroll.
Well, now that I think about it . . .
There is some background noise now that NJ Gov. Christie is rethinking his discinclination to enter the R contest (note that I didn't say "race") for the Presidential nomination. There are reports that his aides are telling fence-sitting R contributors that he's now considering so doing. Those contributors have yet to support either Perry or Romney. The word is that Christie will decide in the next few days.
It might be said that the new NJ gov is somewhat inexperienced. I agree: he definitely lacks community organizing experience.
In California , you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?
ReplyDeleteChristie? Until he became "His Rotundity the Governor", most of us outside NJ had never heard of him. Experience no longer matters. Temperment may not matter anymore either. We currently have an individual as President who disguised his, with the help of front running major media. The "sophisticated cool" turns out to be an empty suit beneath a useless head stuffed with neo-Leninist rabble rousing, sans the pointed chin beard. Christie seems to have a good way of telling unions to go to hell when needed. That is a good trait. Afterall, if you use the right words, you can tell a man to go to hell and he will pack a bag and look forward to the trip.
ReplyDeleteWooden legs don't work very well for taking pictures. You need a camera.
ReplyDeleteThat law was passed to help people avoid negative experiences.
ReplyDeleteYou both have framed the issue well!
ReplyDelete