So much for “scientific consensus”:
GENEVA (AP) — A fundamental pillar of physics – that nothing can go faster than the speed of light – appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein’s theories.
Scientists at the world’s largest physics lab said Thursday they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than light. That’s something that according to Einstein’s 1905 special theory of relativity – the famous E (equals) mc2 equation – just doesn’t happen.
“The feeling that most people have is this can’t be right, this can’t be real,” said James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, outside the Swiss city of Geneva.
A particle that goes faster than the speed of light presents no particular challenge. The problem would be a particle that travels at the speed of light.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAren't those called photons?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy yes, Max, I believe they are.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYep, photons. But they are massless. A particle with a non-zero mass going at the speed of light is a problem. A particle going faster than light is also OK with Einstein as long as it stays faster. Crossing the threshold is the problem. Or at least it used to be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTraversing the speed of light is only problematic when staying within the same Universe (since the permittivity of free space is a constant) :) All the particle or space ship has to do is enter a Universe where the permittivity of free space increases the speed of light there above ours and come back into our Universe. Voila, it's now traveling faster than the speed of light (and backwards in time?) ;)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat an imagination...and some people think that we are not in god's image.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's been theorized for years that neutrinos might be able to travel faster than the speed of light. I guess this experiment may confirm -- or at least not disprove -- the theory.
Here's a link to an article from 1986:
External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThey must name the subatomic particle "Dilithium".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd the race to warp speed begins... now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFirst McCotter drops out, then this. Can we rely on nothing in this world?!?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExactly! I'm selling everything I... oops, too late for that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOur theories are no match for God.
Classical Newtonian Physics has its limits at relativistic speeds 0.9c or faster).
It should be of little or no surprise that Modern Einsteinian Physics had its limits as mass --> 0.0.
This is the nature of the universe.
Now, like a lot of people, I think instrumentation and experimentation need to be evaluated. Cold Fusion lives to this day for similar reasons. However, just on scientific principle, we should be unsurprised that our limits are not God's limits.
And just to tweak the Global Warming fanatics trolling NRO: if this theory can be questioned, why is your certainty in AGW unassailable? You're frauds.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusefunny, I thought science was always right. I guess it is until it's not.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I guess it is until it's not."
Ummm, yeah, that's the DEFINITION of science last time I checked.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOdd, then, that some are so wedded to that which simply hasn't yet been disproven, no?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusebingo!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm merely pointing out how science doesn't know it all. You would think, by reading the news, that those that profess a faith in God were somehow "anti-science." Truth be told, we just realize that science doesn't know as much as it presumes.
Consider the human genome. Until recently, it was asserted that there were but four bases. Now we know there are at least eight. Imagine how our understanding might change in the next 25 years.
Humility is in order for those that believe that science has all the answers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseVery well said!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, I think dilithium is a good name for it, and since we have "light speed" already named, we have to have a name for the speed these new dilithia travel at. Hmmm. What name could we call that speed? Any ideas?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWarp Speed?
Maybe something went over my head, but I thought we -- err, Hollywood -- already had a name for this, too.
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