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http://www.sciencenewsfo rkids.o rg/2012/03/to o -fast-to -be-true/

Too fast to be true

By Stephen Ornes / March 14, 2012 Last September, scientists working on an Italian experiment called OPERA reported a measurement that seemed too amazing to be true. T heir f inding involved neutrinos, supersmall and ultraf ast particles that can travel through almost anything without stopping. T he scientists measured the speeds of neutrinos that zipped f rom one underground laboratory to another and reported that the zippy little particles traveled f aster than light. In November, they repeated the experiment and got the same results. T hose results both excited and troubled

This g iant d e te c to r, p art o f the MINO S e xp e rime nt, me as ure s a b e am o f tiny p artic le s c alle d ne utrino s as the y le ave the lab o uts id e Chic ag o . The ne utrino b e am trave ls thro ug h s o lid e arth to ano the r d e te c to r in Minne s o ta. Sc ie ntis ts will us e this e xp e rime nt to me as ure the s p e e d o f ne utrino s . Cre d it: Fe rmilab Natio nal Lab o rato ry

scientists. T he speed of light is thought to be a universal speed limit, which means nothing should move f aster through space. If neutrinos can move f aster than the speed of light, then many ideas about space, time and the nature of the universe might be wrong. T he OPERA results meant either our understanding of science is based on an error or something went wrong with the experiment. T he explanation, as it turns out, has more to do with broken machinery than breaking the laws of physics. At a press conf erence in February, the OPERA scientists reported that a loose cable probably caused a mistake in the measurement, which would mean the neutrinos did nothing unnatural af ter all. Traveling

through the ground, the neutrinos sped f rom a laboratory on the France-Switzerland border to another in Italy. T he f aulty cable carried a signal to the main clock that timed the neutrinos, but a loose connection kept the cable f rom doing its job accurately. We should have been more cautious in the way we f ramed the results, physicist Luca Stanco told Science News. Stanco works on OPERA at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Padua, Italy. Now we are a little embarrassed. Physicists belong to a class of scientists who study motion, matter and energy. From the f irst announcement of the superluminary neutrinos, many scientists expressed their doubts. Boston University physicist Sheldon Glashow was one of the early skeptics. It was always clear to me that the results could not have been true, he told Science News. T he OPERA

Las t Se p te mb e r, s c ie ntis ts re p o rte d that ne utrino s s up e rfas t, s up e rs mall p artic le s fire d fro m Switz e rland trave le d to this und e rg ro und lab o rato ry in Italy fas te r than the s p e e d o f lig ht. In Fe b ruary, the s c ie ntis ts c as t d o ub t o n this s ho c king find ing : The y anno unc e d that faulty e q uip me nt like ly le d to inc o rre c t re s ults . Cre d it: O PERA

scientists are preparing to repeat the experiment, af ter making sure that all cable connections are secure and f unctioning. T hose researchers in Italy are not the only physicists trying to time neutrinos. In the United States, scientists involved in a related experiment known as MINOS will measure the whisperlike particles as they zoom f rom the Chicago area to a lab in Minnesota. T hough the particles may not be able to outpace light, they still interest scientists because neutrinos stream through space without colliding with anything. In f act, in the time it takes you to read this sentence, billions have probably sped right through your body. Neutrinos are one of the most common particles in the universe, but in some ways one of the hardest to capture, neutrino hunter Jim Madsen, f rom the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, told Science News for Kids in 2008. POWER WORDS (Adapted f rom the New Oxf ord American Dictionary) physics the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. T he subject matter of physics, distinguished f rom that of chemistry and biology, includes light and other

radiation, mechanics, heat, sound, electricity, magnetism and the structure of atoms. neutrino A subatomic particle with a mass close to zero. Neutrinos rarely react with normal matter. T hree kinds of neutrinos are known. subatomic particle A particle smaller than an atom. particle A tiny bit of matter. superluminary Faster than light.