Filed under: Europe, News, Science/Technology | Tags: CERN, Einstein's Theory, Subatomic Particles
Scientists at the world’s largest physics lab, CERN, say that they have measured subatomic particles traveling faster than the speed of light. If this turns out to be true — and researchers have been so astounded by the readings that they have asked others to independently verify the measurements before they make any claim — then this would deny a major scientific consensus.
According to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity: the famous E=mc² equation, nothing is supposed to move faster than the speed of light. Neutrinos — one of the strangest particles in physics — have been observed smashing past this speed barrier. Neutrinos sent through the ground from CERN toward the Gran Sasso laboratory 454 miles away, seemed to be showing up a fraction of a second early.
Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) just outside Geneva feel that this just can’t be right. They have asked the broader physics community to look at what they’ve done and really scrutinize it in great detail to independently verify the measurements.
Scientists at the Fermilab in Chicago have promised to start the work immediately.
This is how science is supposed to work. There is no such thing in science as consensus. Science is skeptical, and that is how it moves forward. Scientist move forward with what they think they know, but are always open to the possibility that they might be wrong.
At least that’s how it’s supposed to work. So stay tuned.