But massive particles would still be prohibited from traveling faster than the speed of light. It's only the particles with imaginary mass that could travel faster, and they would still fit into the framework of special and general relativity.

Unless we at the same time can show that the neutrinos have non-complex mass. Then it could get really hairy. But I wouldn't bet my house on it.

In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
An exaggeration, yes, but not a terribly big one. Most of the standard theory today is based on the bricks of special and general relativity. For us to have to rethink the laws restricting mass from traveling over the speed of light, we really would need to rethink physics from there all the way back up, which really leaves no physical theories safe all the way back to Newtonian physics. In short, I cant wait to see how this pans out.

In reply to this comment by Ornthoron:
Oh, it would definitely be groundbreaking. One of the biggest discoveries in physics to date. But to say that we would have to restart physics is an exaggeration.

In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
I'm pretty sure negative mass would still result in complex energy, because the Lorentz transformation factor would still be proportional to 1/i or -i. Complex mass, however, would allow for the energy to be real (which has been theorized as being possible), but that introduces a whole new problem of trying to conceptualize complex mass.

And on a side note, the first ever physical observation of nonpostive/nonreal mass would be groundbreaking in its own right.

In reply to this comment by Ornthoron:
The thing is, we don't know the mass of the neutrino. If it has a tachyonic nature, i.e. negative mass squared, it could break Lorentz symmetry while still satisfying Einstein's equations.

>> ^juliovega914:

>> ^Jinx:
>> ^juliovega914:
If this measurement turns out to be true, we basically have to restart physics.

Again, not necessarily. It would be a ground breaking discovery and would certainly raise a lot of questions...but then I did perhaps one of the most brain melting experiments with results that appear to contradict theory and common sense when I was 14 years old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment

No, it would be a HUGE discovery! One of the biggest ever! and it would completely redefine our modern theory!
If a massive particle moves faster than the speed of light, that means the Lorentz factor for calculating the energy of the particle will be complex! (gamma = c/squrt(c^2-v^2), for v>c, gamma is complex). Do any of you have any fucking idea what that means?
(http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/veltran.html
for those of you who dont know wtf I am talking about)

Oh, it would definitely be groundbreaking. One of the biggest discoveries in physics to date. But to say that we would have to restart physics is an exaggeration.

In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
I'm pretty sure negative mass would still result in complex energy, because the Lorentz transformation factor would still be proportional to 1/i or -i. Complex mass, however, would allow for the energy to be real (which has been theorized as being possible), but that introduces a whole new problem of trying to conceptualize complex mass.

And on a side note, the first ever physical observation of nonpostive/nonreal mass would be groundbreaking in its own right.

In reply to this comment by Ornthoron:
The thing is, we don't know the mass of the neutrino. If it has a tachyonic nature, i.e. negative mass squared, it could break Lorentz symmetry while still satisfying Einstein's equations.

>> ^juliovega914:

>> ^Jinx:
>> ^juliovega914:
If this measurement turns out to be true, we basically have to restart physics.

Again, not necessarily. It would be a ground breaking discovery and would certainly raise a lot of questions...but then I did perhaps one of the most brain melting experiments with results that appear to contradict theory and common sense when I was 14 years old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment

No, it would be a HUGE discovery! One of the biggest ever! and it would completely redefine our modern theory!
If a massive particle moves faster than the speed of light, that means the Lorentz factor for calculating the energy of the particle will be complex! (gamma = c/squrt(c^2-v^2), for v>c, gamma is complex). Do any of you have any fucking idea what that means?
(http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/veltran.html for those of you who dont know wtf I am talking about)

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 4 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
And fuck, its *dead again, and I don't even have the permissions to declare it so, or go about fixing it. Oh cruel fate.

Here's a link to the video as it is on the BBC site. Its possible to embed BBC videos, not sure how.

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/stig-farm-exclusive-2010-11-5

Lol...yes, Ivan Maximov has a few wild animations. Crazy stuff, and I definately agree with you.

In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
What is this I dont even...


Srsly though, this entire video had epic sexual undertones.

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 3 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Whooah, easy on the trigger finger there, cowboy. It was your post and you can do with it whatever you want, but usually with dupes we use the *dupeof and *isdupe commands. What this does is transfer whatever votes are on one post to the original, rather than just killing it dead.

Anyhow, it was a great video, sorry your first fron-page sift turned out to be a dupe, but there you go.

In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
*kill

Sorry, but your turbo-encabulator video is a duplicate from way, way back... http://videosift.com/video/Turbo-Encabulator-a-training-video-must-see

I understand and apologize for my knee-jerk reaction. After reading the comments about the other video, I chose to not watch the video because I didn't want to be disturbed by it. I did read some of the linked news articles though. A truly disturbing set of fu**ed up circumstances.



In reply to this comment by juliovega914:
I am a person. People suck.

But anyway, I love the video, truly. Its just that me watching this one right after watching the other one one (the one that I linked, with the swat team) really threw a wet rag over it.

>> ^curiousity:

>> ^juliovega914:
Sadly, I can now only think of a swat team breaking into this guy's little cottage on the edge of the mountain, shooting his little dog, and busting him for owning .3 grams of marijuana.
http://videosift.com/video/SWAT-A-Holes-Murder-Pets-in-Front-of-Kids
People suck.

You suck.
This is a happy video about an old man doing something he really enjoys for a long time.
There is no benefit to tainting this video with your ineffectual, internal need to lash out.

Thanks juliovega914, I changed the title and description accordingly.

In reply to your comment:
“This video label should be renamed, this isnt magic sand. Magic snow would be a slightly more appropriate label.

This is Sodium Polyacrylate, available through www.unitednuclear.com (the people who made this particular video). Sodium polyacrylate is frequently used as a water absorber in products with a need for it as such (namely diapers, tampons, and the like). Its nifty because it can absorb 100 times its weight in water. The end product strongly resembles snow, and is even slightly cold due to evaporation. I bought some of the stuff, had a bit of fun with it, absorbing massive ammounts of water making volcanoes of "snow" in the process.”