Move over, Einstein?
So I might get to be Han Solo in a future life after all…
PHYSICISTS have reported that sub-atomic particles called neutrinos can travel faster than light, a finding that, if verified, would be inconsistent with Einstein’s theory of relativity.
In experiments conducted between the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland and a laboratory in Italy, the tiny particles were clocked at 300,006 kilometres per second, slightly faster that the speed of light, the researchers said today.
“This result comes as a complete surprise,” said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the experiment, known as OPERA.
“We wanted to measure the speed of neutrinos, but we didn’t expect to find anything special.”
Scientists spent nearly six months “checking, testing, controlling and rechecking everything” before making an announcement, he said.
Just so long as you remember that a parsec is a unit of distance and not of time, its all good.
But did the neutrinos actually travel through time instead of space, thus maintaining the law of the speed of light?
If you check the map, it was all downhill.
Cheers