Particles That May Break Known Laws of Physics

Started by josephpalazzo, September 10, 2015, 01:00:59 PM

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Baruch

My views of academia came much later than school.  When I was in school, I did go to a top notch college, and it proved it by being very hard.  Partly because of the subject matter, party because of the poor teaching, partly because of my poor student qualities.  My subsequent view is that 18 is too young for most to go to college, maybe 25 would be better.  The Vietnam War vets I competed against, were awesome, but the price of their maturity was too high.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

drunkenshoe

#16
josephpalazzo, I have a different question.

Probably, they are all different and various. But how long does it take to evaluate a result of an experiment made in the collider in average? I understand this may come silly, but I am just trying to get a frame on a different aspect for myself.

I have read Lederman's book looong time ago and one of the things he said about research in this field that srtuck me then was that it would take a decade to evaluate the results of some of them?

I'm guessing it must be different than what it was 15 years ago?






"science is not about building a body of known 'facts'. ıt is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good." - tp

josephpalazzo

Quote from: Baruch on September 12, 2015, 07:10:14 AM
My views of academia came much later than school.  When I was in school, I did go to a top notch college, and it proved it by being very hard.  Partly because of the subject matter, party because of the poor teaching, partly because of my poor student qualities.  My subsequent view is that 18 is too young for most to go to college, maybe 25 would be better.  The Vietnam War vets I competed against, were awesome, but the price of their maturity was too high.

You can get arguments that 18 is too old. The suitable age for college entrance can vary wildly from one individual to another. I don't think we can ever set a universal threshold age. I think if you persist and don't shy away from the struggle, you will flourish, one way or another

josephpalazzo

Quote from: drunkenshoe on September 12, 2015, 07:42:27 AM
josephpalazzo, I have a different question.

Probably, they are all different and various. But how long does it take to evaluate a result of an experiment made in the collider in average? I understand this may come silly, but I am just trying to get a frame on a different aspect for myself.

I have read Lederman's book looong time ago and one of the things he said about research in this field that srtuck me then was that it would take a decade to evaluate the results of some of them?

I'm guessing it must be different than what it was 15 years ago?




That's difficult to assess. Take the LHC, which is basically divided into two teams, each one performing a different experiment - you need that to have more than one team to confirm any new discovery. Now each team comprises about 3000 physicists, technicians and so one. You need to consider that what they study is like firing a bullet against a plate of steel, and then examining the millions of shrapnel bits from this collision. In the case of the LHC, we're looking at literally hundreds of millions of tracks, and then diligently plotting to see if they get some sort of resonance. And then the various teams must come up with enough data to get a 5-sigma signal, meaning there is less than 1 in 3.5 million chances that the resonance is a fluke. In the OP article, three teams are involved, besides the LHC, there's a Japanese and an American team. This brings another hurdle as they are not only apart geographically, but there are different funding difficulties. So how long will it take for these three teams to get confirmation is anyone's guess at this point. However, a 3.5 signal is not to be in anyway dismissed. I believe they will get to the bottom of this sooner or later. 

jonb

Quote from: josephpalazzo on September 11, 2015, 12:04:47 PM
There are only good questions, including the "stoooopid" ones.

There are loads of reasons why I like this, in that the asking of questions is to me all important, and why I think asking questions should be encouraged in every endeavour. Especially those questions that others will think of as stupid. For me if a person can be open enough to ask questions and also be prepared for everyone to tell them their questions are stupid but carry on learning from the answers and still ask the questions that person is about as brilliant as a person can get.

Daft can often be a signal of Brilliance!


This is an Iconic image for me. It is a Russian aeroplane and you can see in the photo two men standing on the fuselage, the madness is that this is not stuntmen showing off, but that they are normal passengers walking about on the promenade deck. Yes this plane was designed with a promenade deck so that passengers could get out of their seats and stretch their legs with a bit of a walk about, and to keep them safe there is one thin rope going round the edge of the deck about eighteen inches high. These are Russians who are known to have the odd drink and be less steady on their feet! Can there be anything more stupid than that aeroplane?

The Sikorsky Ilya Muromets  is a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and heavy military bombers used during World War I by the Russian Empire. The series was based on the Russky Vityaz or Le Grand, the world's first four-engined aircraft, designed by Igor Sikorsky. The Ilya Muromets aircraft as it appeared in 1913 was a revolutionary design, intended for commercial service with its spacious fuselage incorporating a passenger saloon and washroom on board.
During World War I, it became the first four-engine bomber to equip a dedicated strategic bombing unit. This heavy bomber was unrivaled in the early stages of the war, as the Central Powers had no aircraft capable enough to rival it until much later.
In 1916-17 the German Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, the only example of any of the Imperial German Riesenflugzeug airframe designs to be produced in any quantity during World War I was essentially a copy of this aircraft.

Which means that the aircraft designed in 1912 by Igor Sikorsky was still a front line aircraft at the end of the first world war no other aircraft was that far ahead of its time, that in time where aircraft development was so rapid that ground breaking aircraft could often become old fashioned and obsolete in a matter of months  the Ilya Muromets lasted the whole war and beyond.

The first four engined Airliner
the first aeroplane with a pressurised cabin for flying at great hight.
Yes the promenade deck was probably with hindsight stupid, but it is also a testament to Igor Sikorsky's brilliance and willingness to try out new ideas.

The stupid question
If we were to boil down everything Socrates said a very good way to say it I think is 'a willingness to ask stupid questions even if that get you into trouble'.

With children from deprived backgrounds I have found the biggest problem to their learning is an unwillingness to look stupid in front of their peers which might send them even further down a pecking order, so they don't ask questions that others could use against them.

And in creativity every idea is stupid until it can be shown to be right, and for a progressive society we have a need for more ideas. 

josephpalazzo

@jonb

Thanks for the post.

Indeed, people shy from the stupid questions often from fear of tripping themselves over and being ridicule, yet Charlie Chaplin made his career of tripping all over himself.