Editing 955: Neutrinos

{{comic
| number    = 955
| date      = September 23, 2011
| title     = Neutrinos
| image     = neutrinos.png
| titletext = I can't speak to the paper's scientific merits, but it's really cool how on page 10 you can see that their reference GPS beacon is sensitive enough to pick up continential drift under the detector (interrupted halfway through by an earthquake).
}}

==Explanation==
The "{{w|Faster-than-light neutrino anomaly|Neutrino speed of light thing}}" mentioned in this comic [https://www.cnet.com/culture/physics-shocker-neutrinos-clocked-faster-than-light/ was an actual story] from the day before the comic was posted. An experiment at {{w|CERN}} caused a stream of neutrinos to be passed from CERN in Switzerland to a receiving station at the INFN laboratories of Gran Sasso in Italy ({{w|LNGS}}). The initial findings from the experiment were that the neutrinos arrived at the detector in less time than a beam of light would have taken. The neutrinos had apparently exceeded the {{w|speed of light}}. [https://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112551696/cern-confirms-neutrinos-not-faster-than-light/ The experiment was indeed found to be flawed]; the data was probably wrong due to a faulty connection on an optical fiber.

{{w|Albert Einstein}} famously posited that the speed of light in a vacuum is both constant and absolutely the fastest possible speed for any object in the universe. Nothing can accelerate to any faster speed. Therefore, a report that neutrinos have been found travelling faster than light challenges a fundamental law of physics and turns all of physics, or at least {{w|special relativity}} on its head.

Prior experience has shown [[Cueball]] that in such cases, [[386|arguing with people]] and preaching caution is futile and will lead to "pointless arguments about Galileo". {{w|Galileo Galilei}} was famously convicted of heresy for his defending the {{w|Heliocentrism|heliocentric system}}, and is often used as an example of revolutionary ideas being suppressed by the powerful. Believers in the new findings would thus accuse Cueball and the scientific community of being as stubborn and oppressive as the Inquisition in Galileo's time, and even compare them to the {{w|Thought Police}} from George Orwell's ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}},'' another popular archetype of oppressive measures. Ironically, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-case-against-copernicus/ Scientific American] actually used the CERN data as an analogy for heliocentrism in an article on Copernicus and Galileo. 

Cueball was arguing with someone who claimed relativity as a whole didn’t exist. This would make GPSes unable to accurately calculate their {{w|velocity time dilation}} and {{w|gravitational time dilation}} and correct errors, making them produce widely inaccurate results.

Cueball realizes that it is more satisfying and profitable to place bets with them instead. His reasoning is that almost invariably, these supposedly world-changing discoveries end up falling apart after further investigation, and that if it doesn't, then the discovery itself will satisfy his scientific curiosity enough to outweigh his monetary loss. This is similar to {{w|Stephen Hawking}}'s {{w|scientific wager}}s, where Hawking set bets such that, if he was wrong, he would be paid, and if he was right, he'd have to pay and wouldn't mind because he'd just have been proven right.

The title text is a reference to a graph published similar to, if not the same as, the one found [http://indianysn.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/cern-opera-graph.jpg here]. The continental drift can be seen, as well as the clearly marked jump showing the earthquake in question.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are talking.]
:Megan: Did you see the neutrino speed of light thing?
:Cueball: Yup! Good news; I need the cash.
:Megan: Huh? Cash?

:[Text above half-sized panel.]
:Yeah. When there's a news story about a study overturning all of physics, I used to urge caution, remind people that experts aren't all stupid, and end up in pointless arguments about Galileo.

:[Half-height panel.]
:[Cueball sitting on chair, looking down at laptop in his lap. Books and things are on a desk in front of him.]
:Cueball: No, this isn't ''about'' whether relativity exists. If it didn't, your GPS wouldn't work.
:Cueball: What do you mean, "science thought police"? Have you seen our budget? We couldn't ''begin'' to afford our own thought police.

:[Megan and Cueball talking again.]
:Megan: That sounds miserable and unfulfilling.
:Cueball: Yup. So I gave up, and now I just find excited believers and bet them $200 each that the new result won't pan out.

:[Same as last panel.]
:Megan: That's mean.
:Cueball: It provides a good income, and if I'm ever wrong, I'll be too excited about the new physics to notice the loss.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]