BIG NEWS today regarding the very fundamentals of physics and how the universe works. This latest mind-blowing development comes not from the Large Hadron Collider, but from OPERA (Osciallation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus…yeah, I know…huh?). It turns out Einstein might have been wrong…that’s right, Einstein might have been wrong.
Scientists at the CERN physics lab just announced that subatomic particles called neutrinos were observed to be traveling faster than the speed of sound. So that whole E=mc 2 thing may need to be rethought because it is based on the the theory that it is impossible for any particle with mass to accelerate at or above the speed of sound. BAZINGA (as Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory would say)!
But you may want to wait a little longer before you tell that iconic Einstein poster hanging above your bed, “You just got served!” Before scientists call the measurements true (even though the 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of sound the neutrinos traveled is above the 10 nanosecond margin of error), they want to verify with independent tests.
Tune into the CERN live webcast, which I thought was supposed to take place at 16:00:00 (Europe/Zurich) today, but I think that time has already passed and the webcast doesn’t seem to be up. I’ll keep checking back to the page for the latest.
That's amazing! Can't wait to see if they are right! Oh… then maybe in 100 years they'll be wrong about something, too! 😀
Yes, I caught that headline earlier today, but it'll take more than verification of results. It'll take repetition of whatever they were doing to measure the neutrinos. Good stuff.
It is amazing! I'm excited to see where this development leads. One of my favorite things about science is how it's always changing and growing…and how scientists often aren't afraid to take new information and reform their theories.
Katie, please forgive this misplaced comment–I couldn't find a contact email address for you.
You won the free copy of CWIM on my blog giveaway! If you could write to me at audrey (at) audreyvernick (dot) com with your mailing address, I'll pass it along to the publisher who will send you your copy.
Congratulations!