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Faster than light

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hi not sure where this goes.it's not politics but it would be a cool

http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/lets-go-slow-on-cern-faster-than-light-claims/

There's a link at the top.
What do you guys think about the results, is Einstein wrong? Or are the results a fluke?

I'm thinking fluke, I recon they've mis-calculated something.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This is 'Politics' AND 'Debate', so I'm sure it's in the right place. :)

    I would say it's too soon to make a judgement yet. There is still a lot of investigation required.

    Having said that, if the neutrino can traverse other dimensions (which many scientists do believe may exist), resulting in it getting to the destination quicker than light, it doesn't mean Einstein is wrong. Light would still be fastest particle in this dimension.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    J@ke wrote: »
    This is 'Politics' AND 'Debate', so I'm sure it's in the right place. :)

    I would say it's too soon to make a judgement yet. There is still a lot of investigation required.

    Having said that, if the neutrino can traverse other dimensions (which many scientists do believe may exist), resulting in it getting to the destination quicker than light, it doesn't mean Einstein is wrong. Light would still be fastest particle in this dimension.

    Yeah M theory and string theory describe extra dimensions, which could still work with relativity. I thought the whole idea was pretty interesting so thought I'd post.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The two big questions are how they measure the distance and how they measure the time. given how small the discrepancy on the timing is they've got to be pretty accurate on their measurements
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It could be fluke, but they tested it hundreds of times apparently and got the same results.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    It could be fluke, but they tested it hundreds of times apparently and got the same results.

    Really, didn't know that. They could have a fundamental error and just keep repeating it. As big gay says the distance could be a big factor. I wonder how they work out the distance between bases, gps wouldn't be accurate enough would it? Half the time my gps thinks I'm in northern Ireland, and not bucks. There are loads of scientists that are queuing up to repeat the experiment so we might have some back up evidence in a few years.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They held back from releasing the results for a very long time because they were unsure about them, they don't seem to ring true.

    There is some controversy about it though whereby some scientists have suggested an explanation (it's not been tested yet) that means Einsteins theory isn't broken, this has just bent the rules or cheated a little bit.

    http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27260/?ref=rss

    This could shed some light on a potential flaw in the experiment, but until the science is done and peer reviewed, happily accepted papers are out there and the community reaches a consensus we just won't know for now.
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