Re: [Phys-l] Neutrinos going faster than speed of light?

["LaMontagne, Bob" <RLAMONT@providence.edu>]

One of my colleaues just suggested that since they used GPS to measure distance, they probably ignored the curvature of the earth - the straight line distance is a little shorter.

Bob at PC

> -----Original Message-----
> From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
> bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Cindy Schwarz
> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 12:46 PM
> To: Forum for Physics Educators
> Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Neutrinos going faster than speed of light?
>
> i remember that one as well
>
> On Sep 23, 2011, at 12:35 PM, John Clement wrote:
>
> > If true, there will be some very interesting debates in physics.  But
> it
> > reminds me of the debacle  a number of years ago when Univ of Houston
> was on
> > the front page of the NYTimes as having discovered a magnetic
> monopole.
> > They were looking at cosmic ray traces that produce pits in lexan
> plates.
> > Well a grad student went back and found the measurement of the
> thickness of
> > the plates was off by 30%, so their monopole ended up being a
> plausible but
> > rare heavy nucleus track.
> >
> > I am always in favor of some new discovery which violates some basic
> > principles.  It makes things so much more interesting, but the odds
> are
> > against this one.
> >
> > John M. Clement
> > Houston, TX
> >
> > > One advantage of getting old is that you can approach these
> > > kinds of news items with a certain amount of equanimity.
> > > Every three to for years one gets such announcements about a
> > > new measurement invalidating relativity in some fashion of
> > > the other.  I recall as a young graduate student, working on
> > > my GR dissertation, and there was a grand announcement about
> > > new measurements of the mass quadrupole moment of the sun;
> > > coming from  a reputable research group, as I recall.  The
> > > measurements, if true, would render Einstein's version of GR
> > > inadequate.  As we were walking over to a talk at a
> > > conference that was coincidentally being held on campus, I
> > > was chatting with one of the greybeards in the department.
> > > Who basically calmed the young eager student down with a
> > > "wait and see" attitude and a message much like this one.
> > >
> > > So I say let's wait and see.  If true very interesting; but
> > > if I had to bet money on it . . .
> >
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