Faster than light travel!

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Well, not for us yet.

And yet to be verified/validated.

But this could be pretty big!

The science world was left in shock when workers at the world's largest physics lab announced they had recorded subatomic particles travelling faster than the speed of light – a feat that Einstein said was impossible.

If the findings are proven to be accurate, they would overturn one of the pillars of the Standard Model of physics, which explains the way the universe and everything within it works.

Einstein's theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905, states that nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.

But researchers at the CERN lab near Geneva claim they have recorded neutrinos, a type of tiny particle, travelling faster than the barrier of 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometres) per second.

The results have so astounded researchers that American and Japanese scientists have been asked to verify the results before they are confirmed as a discovery.

Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, said: "We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing.

"We now want colleagues to check them independently."

A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN towards Gran Sassoin Italy, 730km (500 miles) away, where they were picked up by giant detectors.

Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds – or 60 billionths of a second – less than light beams would have taken.

Scientists agree if the results are confirmed, that it would force a fundamental rethink of the laws of physics.

John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research who was not involved in the experiment, said Einstein's theory underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics".

The theory, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big Bang, "has worked perfectly up to now", he said.

According to the law that energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared, or E=mc2, firing an object faster than light would require an infinite amount of energy.

Proof that something had travelled faster would pose major questions about our understanding of the laws of nature because, for example, something that travels faster than light would in theory arrive before it left.

Speed of light 'broken' by scientists - Telegraph

[Longhair]

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[elgecko]

[NateS]

Must read more...

[Bloodhammer]

Originally Posted by Longhair

The laws of math, physics, time, space, etc. are all man made. It is only natural for man to change the laws.

I'm not sure if you're saying "meh, I figured as much" or if you're thumbing your nose at science as being "made up"...

Either way, I think this is very important.

[Relic]

very very cool stuff

[capnjim]

I just hope I live long enough to see aliens come down and totally de-bunk all of our laws of Physics. I'm not a beleiver in most of them.
You wanna go faster than light?
MORE POWER!!!!

[Southpaw5]

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

I'm not sure if you're saying "meh, I figured as much" or if you're thumbing your nose at science as being "made up"...

Either way, I think this is very important.

I think He's just saying we decided/discovered what the laws were ourselves,, and now we discovered new data to suggest otherwise.


The world used to be flat...

[Eric Perry]

Wow. This is damn cool, if true!

[StyleOverShow]

Just caught the article myself...does this make time travel possible?...certainly shakes up the "Standard Model"...

[EricF]

Hmmm....seriously interesting stuff.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Longhair

The laws of math, physics, time, space, etc. are all man made. It is only natural for man to change the laws.

By definition a law is man made.

But our understanding was that it was not possible for matter to travel faster than the speed of light, the ramifications to our understanding of the physical world are pretty substantial!

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Southpaw5

I think He's just saying we decided/discovered what the laws were ourselves,, and now we discovered new data to suggest otherwise.


The world used to be flat...

I love "The world used to be flat" because I feel like a lot of science and what we know as truths are probably incorrect, but are the best explanations we've been able to come up with.

[Relic]

Years ago my physics professor said something once that really stuck with me for some reason. Right at the very beginning of the semester he told us "everything that you are about to learn is really just a series of science's "best guesses", and don't believe for a second that we know half the things we think we know, it's up to you to prove or disprove us..."
I found that to be a very cool thing for him to say.

[Skitch it!]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I love "The world used to be flat" because I feel like a lot of science and what we know as truths are probably incorrect, but are the best explanations we've been able to come up with.

+1, and **** up this planet with the residue of finding out.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I love "The world used to be flat" because I feel like a lot of science and what we know as truths are probably incorrect, but are the best explanations we've been able to come up with.

Always a case of getting closer to the truth. If we already knew everything, I'd be out of a job!

[Bloodhammer]

Originally Posted by Skitch it!

+1, and **** up this planet with the residue of finding out.

Don't be scurred. Neutrinos are so small they can pass through a block of lead without hitting anything. This is particle science, not strip mining.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Always a case of getting closer to the truth. If we already knew everything, I'd be out of a job!

Im all for finding out more! I just wonder, at times, how much we think is common knowledge is actually far from the truth.

[Tituscrow]

This is seriously big news.

I got wood

[Skitch it!]

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

Don't be scurred. Neutrinos are so small they can pass through a block of lead without hitting anything. This is particle science, not strip mining.

Then beam me up, Scotty, as quick as possible