neutrinos-faster-than-light

Sub-Microscopy at www.microscopy-uk.org.uk

About
Enthusiast or Amateur Microscopy is normally seen to be the study of material and life carried out and enjoyed using an Optical Microscope. Optic al Microscopes are limited to magnification of about 1600x, which allows us to study down to the level of single celled life and bacteria, albeit - you don't get to see a lot inside bacteria.

However, since people interested in our world at the tiny level or experience, are often also curious at the world and reality at far more reduced sizes of scale, I thought it would be interesting to open a new section which will delight and encourage understanding of reality at the atomic and sub-atomic level.

Since none of our contributors have access to tools and instruments to probe reality at these exotic depths, most material here exists on other web sites. This section provides
a gateway to other peoples' work and material and will be added to on an ad-hoc basis.

Mol.

Previous Articles and Subjects

Just started November but keep an eye on this space as we move through the coming months...

Possible Coming Articles...
Quantum Entanglement
The tiniest thing that ever existed: the big bang.
Petroleum from Algae
Quantum World - discrete step Universe
What is light?
What is a gene?
What is a molecule?
What is an atom?
What is a quark?
Multi-Universe.

Faster than light Neutrinos

20th November 2011
With the news breaking this week about the possibility of Neutrinos travelling faster than light, interest has picked up around the world regarding the impact this will have on our current view of universal limitations. So, what is a Neutrino?

A Neutrino -{wiki} is a fundamental particle, like an electron - a tiny sub-atomic entity which cannot be divided further. But whereas most elementary particles possess an electric charge, a neutrino has none. Also, most other elementary particles exist as part of a larger structure, an atom, for example - but a neutrino is a free standing entity. It exhibits little or no mass (controversy exists regarding if it is truly mass-less). Because it carries no electric charge, it is not influnced or affected by either magnetic or electic fields or charges.

All this means that Neutrinos hardly ever interact with the physical world: the material world as we experience it. This has earned them the name of 'Ghost Particles'. Tens of millions of Neutrinos pass through every square centimetre of your body and everything on Earth every second. Recent news from The Opera Project suggests they may even be able to travel faster than light!

More Resources...

The IceCube Project - South Pole Neutrino Detecter
IceCube is a particle detector at the South Pole that records the interactions of a nearly massless sub-atomic particle called the neutrino. IceCube searches for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. The IceCube telescope is a powerful tool...
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