Talk Nerdy To Me!

Are we all not interested in the experiment that caused the shock-waves around the physics world.  So let us take a  step back and consider what this experiment tells us. It attempted to measure the speed of particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos -- like all other elementary particles -- are defined by their charges. They have the root neutral in their name, and indeed they have zero electric charge so they are impervious to the electromagnetic force. They also don't interact under the strong force -- the powerful force that holds particles called quarks together inside a proton or neutron. But neutrinos do interact -- albeit very weakly. In fact, the force through which they interact is known as the weak force. This is the force responsible for nuclear beta decay, which, for example, permits a neutron to decay into a proton, electron, and a third particle -- the neutrino which without extremely carefully designed experiments leaves no observable signatures of its own (strictly speaking, it is the neutrino's antiparticle known as the antineutrino).

Because they interact only weakly, neutrinos are difficult to detect and measure. But difficult and impossible are not the same thing. Experimenters have found clever ways to detect a tiny fraction of the neutrinos in enormous shielded detection devices. The detectors are huge in order to provide more opportunities for neutrinos to interact in order to compensate for the weakness of the interaction. And they are shielded (and buried deep underground) so cosmic rays won't confuse the neutrinos signal they wish to measure.

Physicists are interested in measuring neutrino properties because they tell us about the structure of the Standard Model, the well-tested theory that describes matter's most basic elements and interactions. They measure neutrino masses, as well as a very interesting property of neutrinos known as neutrino oscillation -- the fact that neutrinos can oscillate back and forth into each other -- that is one type of neutrino can get transmuted into another type as they travel along through space or matter.

Physicists want to measure how often this happens and they therefore have set up experiments in which neutrinos of one type get produced in one location and neutrinos of another type are detected elsewhere. How far away they put the detector depends on how big a distance is needed for an oscillation to occur.

Which brings us back to the OPERA experiment. Neutrinos are produced at CERN, the particle physics facility near Geneva that also houses the Large Hadron Collider. And they are detected in a big device located in the Gran Sasso cavern in central Italy, 730 km southeast from CERN. The experimenters make detailed measurements of everything they can, including the distance between the experiments and how long it takes for neutrinos to traverse this distance, which in principle tells about the neutrino mass. The measurements are very challenging and the experimenters are to be applauded for taking on this daunting task.

But the experimenters measured something much more surprising than the value of the neutrino mass. They found their neutrinos traveled faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. They measured distance and they measured time and divided one by the other and found a speed that is bigger than Einstein's theory suggests. The question is what does it mean now or have they just made a cock up which later be exposed. 

I love them!

I love them!

My money is on a cock up after reading the link I posted earlier in this thread.

Saying that something can travel faster than the speed of light is a bit like someone saying ' well I'll be damned the earth is flat! '.

Both are possible but there are enormous amounts of data to say otherwise.

The other possibility is that we have had the speed of light wrong, and it's actually a little faster than we think!

Carly wrote:

After a discussion with a group of my girly friends, I think it is safe to conclude that (for us, at least) geeks = hot!

...

The thing I find attractive about intelligent types is probably the passion involved. Whether they've got a lust for astronomy or MMORPGs, if someone can talk passionately about something they love for hours and hours - and you can see the excitement on their face - then that is incredibly attractive!

So... 'fess up! Which geeks get you hot under the collar (comic book and cartoon characters included!)?

Hmmmmm - I should probably fess up here.  I'm a pretty big gamer girl.  And I have a thing for Matt Damon when he's decked out all geeky in glasses etc.

What games do you play HellsBells? And do you play on PC or console?

I own a lot of games on my PC but i dont play games as much as i want to, Partly because im getting a gaming laptop soon and prefer to play a number of games on there.

 Anyone else getting a telescope/bins out to look at Jupiter? Could also be some meteors round orion tonight

Of course I'll have to snuggle up to my hubby to keep warm - win win! 

Just found the OhMiBod app for iPod touch! Genius idea!

Childish? Yes. But they made me giggle!

Some, let's say, interesting chemical & mineral names!

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/sillymolecules/sillymols.htm

Cummingtonite! Hee Hee!!

My daughter has just turned from goth to nerd

a while ago it was all about piercings and tattoos now its Unix and C++ and androids....dunno which is the bigger pain in the ass

 Not sure if its nerdy/geeky but I'm way too excited about the Avengers film being released in 9 days! 

x x x

gunther wrote:

My daughter has just turned from goth to nerd

a while ago it was all about piercings and tattoos now its Unix and C++ and androids....dunno which is the bigger pain in the ass

At least being a nerd will be helpful for her future if she gets good at this stuff.

totallylamb wrote:

 Not sure if its nerdy/geeky but I'm way too excited about the Avengers film being released in 9 days! 

x x x

You are far from being the only one! I can't wait for it

I love being a geek. :)

Another +1 for the Avengers film here. I'm currently making my way through the new Avengers vs. X-Men comic book series...beat THAT level of geekiness

Who wants to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock.........

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissors cut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper
• Paper covers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%28geology%29
• Rock crushes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard
• Lizard poisons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spock
• Spock smashes scissors
• Scissors decapitate lizard
• Lizard eats paper
• Paper disproves Spock
• Spock vaporizes rock
• Rock crushes scissors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wghc4Fn907s

 BBT - I've seen every episode from season 1 - 4 and most of season 5. I LOVE the episode where Penny gives Sheldon Leonard Nimoy's napkin

Geek porn!

http://www.ainews.com/Archives/Story19915.phtml

WandA wrote:

Geek porn!

http://www.ainews.com/Archives/Story19915.phtml

That is high budget geek porn.

The spaceship footage is good enough to have been lifted from the Next Generation show and the actor who plays Picard is a pretty good likeness.

Wasn't there some tabloid scandal about Marina Sirtis being in a topless whipping scene in another movie when this show was on TV?