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CERN results skewed by faulty cable ?

By T.K. Randall
February 24, 2012 · Comment icon

43 comments

Image Credit: clix, sxc.hu

Scientists have been investigating the validity of last year's faster-than-light experiment results.

The team have been attempting to verify whether a faulty cable may have produced invalid results during the experiments conducted in September which appeared to show particles exceeding the speed of light. "It may have caused a slight discrepancy, and they are checking to see if this is the case," said press officer Arnaud Marsollier. "This is a complicated experiment with a multitude of cables and equipment."

The neutrinos were timed at their departure from CERN's giant underground lab near Geneva and again, after travelling 732 km (454 miles) through the Earth's crust, at their arrival at the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy.

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (43)

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Recent comments on this story

#34 Posted by questionmark 12 years ago

Last time it was breadcrumbs that caused the machine to overheat right? Mostly all these problems are due to an urge to publish put before professionalism. I remember the times when you got a result, you checked it, then you rechecked it, did it again after checking your apparatus and then published the result... but in those time people did not want to be ridiculed...

#35 Posted by sepulchrave 12 years ago

Mostly all these problems are due to an urge to publish put before professionalism. I remember the times when you got a result, you checked it, then you rechecked it, did it again after checking your apparatus and then published the result... but in those time people did not want to be ridiculed... I know what you are saying, and it does happen, but I am quite happy with the way things were handled in this case. The scientists had a possibly game-changing result. They spent a year or so double-checking their results. They released their results to the rest of the scientific community. Addition... [More]

#36 Posted by aquatus1 12 years ago

And, let's not forget that it isn't the scientists that are always so eager to publish. They have political pressure put on them as well, usually from the sponsors, to show the world just how much awesomeness their money is producing.

#37 Posted by psyche101 12 years ago

no it wouldn't The speed of light is the same for all observers , regardless of their motion or the motion of the source of light. Therefore you would observe the incoming spaceship as at the speed of light , not twice the speed of light ( sorry ninety nine per cent ) Special Relativity. There is one thing moving faster than the speed of light anyone know ?????? I recommend reading an experiment called the Morley Michelson or Nickelson or something like that , An outside observer could measure the speed of one object as just below light speed, and measure the other as being just below light sp... [More]

#38 Posted by danydandan 12 years ago

#39 Posted by psyche101 12 years ago

It might pay to wrap ones head around the physics we have rather than try to imagine new ones? Indeed, I would agree. That is why I was discussing what appearances exist.

#40 Posted by psyche101 12 years ago

sorry to say they are just theories . but i am gona research more on that Hubble telescope link , it looks interesting . thanks for posting it. this is also an interesting read http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2012/02/cern_neutrino_experiment_how_many_times_have_scientists_proven_einstein_wrong_.html Yes, they are theories, but I think they stand up to logic and reason? All in all, it is an appearance, not a way to actually go faster than light. It's just parallax error.

#41 Posted by Kludge808 12 years ago

Hard to say, as we don't know exactly what data was actually passing through said cable. But either way, a loose is never good as it can cause all kinds of weird data to show up. Cheers, Badeskov Hey, Baddy, long time! Anyway, if the cable were part of the timing system and a gap existed due to its being loose, the timing could be off by enough to skew results. What I think is cool is that the people involved were sharp enough to go public without publishing a definitive paper but rather retrying the experiment with a different technique then turning around and looking at the equipment to make... [More]

#42 Posted by Kludge808 12 years ago

Yes, they are theories, but I think they stand up to logic and reason? All in all, it is an appearance, not a way to actually go faster than light. It's just parallax error. hey, Psyche! I tend to agree. At the moment, theory is what we have but it's grounded in a lot more than intuitive thinking. I remember being where DanyDanDan is now in his thinking and had a physics professor about ready to toss me out a window for being so obstinate. He required that I take another two semesters of Physics (I didn't know they could do that!) which had to be at another institution due to how things worked... [More]

#43 Posted by psyche101 12 years ago

hey, Psyche! I tend to agree. At the moment, theory is what we have but it's grounded in a lot more than intuitive thinking. I remember being where DanyDanDan is now in his thinking and had a physics professor about ready to toss me out a window for being so obstinate. He required that I take another two semesters of Physics (I didn't know they could do that!) which had to be at another institution due to how things worked out but I finally got how it worked. Of course, that was back when having dinosaurs as pets was still quite in fashion and I've forgotten a lot since but that was one thing ... [More]

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