Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
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Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#2The article references the "Oh-My-God particle, the most energetic particle yet encountered. Here's the late John Walker's excellent piece on that:
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#3If I understand correctly, the interaction length of such an energetic neutrino in rock is only in the tens of kilometers.
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#4The Nature paper itself can be found here [0], for those curious. Was just published today.
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#5Ars Technica has an article, as well, with some additional context/explanation.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/most-energetic-neutr...
And an interesting, somewhat related, video from PBS Space Time exploring how supernovas act as particle accelerators (but don't quite explain particles like this one or the 'Oh My God' particle):
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#6also reported in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/science/astrophysics-univ...
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#7For context, 120 PeV is about 10% the kinetic energy of a ping pong ball during typical play.
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#8For context, 120 PeV is about 10% the kinetic energy of a ping pong ball during typical play.
One of the lead researchers in KM3NeT mentioned that the particle was emitting 2 horse power in light during detector transit. A typical body builder expends about 1 horse power while performing, so its 2 body builders in a single particle.
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#9For context, 120 PeV is about 10% the kinetic energy of a ping pong ball during typical play.
Right, and it is this amount of energy in a single particle. A ping-pong ball is comprised of who-knows-how-many billions of particles, so the energy of any one particle is a fraction of the whole.
Re: Record-breaking neutrino is most energetic ever detected
#10For context, 120 PeV is about 10% the kinetic energy of a ping pong ball during typical play.
One of the lead researchers in KM3NeT mentioned that the particle was emitting 2 horse power in light during detector transit. A typical body builder expends about 1 horse power while performing, so its 2 body builders in a single particle.
> typical body builder expends about 1 horse power while performing
Close, but ackshually...
Bodybuilders just oil up and pose in beauty pageants.
1 horsepower is basically one 250-pound bench press in one second. (550 foot pounds of work; the aforementioned bench press assumes a 2.2-foot stroke length.)
Most bodybuilders and serious weight lifters can do that, but they can't keep it up for long.