That Einstein Fellow Might Have Been Wrong

[Lloyd Danforth]

I used to accept E.'s Theory until I was told that if I ran fast enough I would be able to see myself from behind.
Crazy Talk!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484


"In the course of doing the experiments, the researchers noticed that the particles showed up 60 billionths of a second sooner than light would over the same distance - a tiny fractional change, but a consistent one.
The team measured the travel times of neutrino bunches some 15,000 times, and have reached a level of statistical significance that in scientific circles would count as a formal discovery."

[Lloyd Danforth]

Duh

[Jim Johnson]

I'm sure it is only the thought of seeing your own behind that bothers you.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Or watching something catch up with me.

[WithoutAPaddle]

If you are in a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?

[KBCraig]

If nucleons orbit an atom at approximately the speed of light ("c"), then atoms could only travel at c minus the orbital speed without the nucleons breaking the speed of light. So, we've always known it was possible for subatomic particles to exceed the speed of light. I guess the news here is the neutrino is a standalone particle.

Nucleons are like care tires: relative to the ground, tires are always both standing still, and going twice as fast as the car, at the same time.

[Lloyd Danforth]

You're starting to sound like the now discredited Einstein guy

[MaineShark]

If you are in a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen?

Yes.

Relative to the spaceship, the light beam appears to travel forward at the speed of light.

Relative to the rest of the universe, the spaceship is traveling some minimal amount less than the speed of light, and the headlight beam travels at the actual speed of light (just marginally faster than the ship, itself).

If nucleons orbit an atom at approximately the speed of light ("c"), then atoms could only travel at c minus the orbital speed without the nucleons breaking the speed of light. So, we've always known it was possible for subatomic particles to exceed the speed of light. I guess the news here is the neutrino is a standalone particle.

Nucleons are like care tires: relative to the ground, tires are always both standing still, and going twice as fast as the car, at the same time.

Electrons don't orbit at the speed of light.  The inner electrons on some of the heavier elements can get up to speeds that are vaguely close to that of light, but that's only the inner orbit, and only the heavier elements.  Electrons are pretty light, relative to the nucleus of an atom, so if they go too fast, they would reach escape velocity, just like a rocket leaving Earth.  Only heavy elements have an escape velocity close to c, and even then, only the inner orbit.

Regardless, even if the electrons were orbiting at 99.999% of c, and you shot the atom out of a cannon, such that the atom, itself, was traveling at 99.999% of c, the forward-moving electrons would not break the speed of light.  The orbital speed is relative to the atom, while the atom's speed is relative to the cannon's reference frame.  That's relativity for you.

Joe