Thursday, November 24, 2011

Universal Speed Limit Broken?


186,282 miles per second isn't just a good idea....it's the law!

European physicists are saying that the universally accepted speed limit of the cosmos, the speed of a photo in vacuum, better known as the speed of light - may in fact not be the fastest speed possible. A European team of physicists have stated that they had measured neutrinos particles which test results show that they traveled around 3.75 miles per second faster than the velocity of light.

The neutrinos had been measured along a 454-mile trajectory between CERN labs in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy. Under extreme peer pressure the scientists altered the experiment in a way to cancel out structures in the beam that could have affected the out come. This way the scientists could identify individual particles when they were fired and when they arrived at their destination. But once again the results were confirmed.

Of course the results still needed to pass peer review if for no other reason than the experiment appears to negate a speed that literally thousands of other scientists have tested and accept as the universal constant of speed meaning the speed of light.


Speed of light Wiki

Daily Galaxy Article

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, so the world may not be flat after all? I get amused by doctors and scientists who swear something to be absolute truth, only to find out a decade or so later they were spreading lies. Man is so arrogant... Excuse me I have to go have my morning helping of the 5 food groups.

Beam Me Up said...

Ouch! Take a breath Anon!
This argument has been going on since Dr. E thought up general relativity. There are quirky things going on in the nether regions of particle physics and it looks like the mathematicians and physicists are once again taking jabs at each other again. Nature should not have infinities either, but there they are.

Blizno said...

I have never heard a reputable doctor or scientist say that anything is the "absolute truth".
I hear "to the best of our knowledge", "statistically significant", "the best estimates so far", "within 95% probability of being correct", etc.

Anon is putting words into the mouths of reputable researchers that those researchers would never, ever say.

Beam Me Up said...

Excellent point Blizno. Definites and absolutes .... exactly

Horacio said...

Faster than the speed of light? No problem, I do it all the time when I deposit my check and have to do it before the bills come in!!

Beam Me Up said...

Horacio
perfect description of the cause and effect! Truly elegant!