Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!
>I mean, what is the alternative that is being assumed? It smashes the proton or neutron to bits. What I want to know, is if those bits could in turn smash other neutrons and protons apart, and so on. What if it his a proton in my nose?
Subatomic particle interaction isn't the same as newtonian interaction. They can say "yeah, this thing has the same kinetic energy as a fastball" but that bit you read is their way of saying "but if it hit you you'd never f'ing notice because gamma rays rip right the hell through you, too, and most of them don't interact either (gamma radiation is a problem when there's an assload of gamma rays). Neutrinos are worse - they sleet through you all the time but maybe one or two in your life will knock an atom out of place. OUCH! that was mine. Not. If you haven't checked out just what a bitch it is to even detect neutrinos, here's an awesome shot of Super Kamiokande: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/PPD/resources/image/jpg/super-kamiokan...
A neutrino walks into a bar. The bartender says "We don't serve neutrinos here." The neutrino says "Hey, I was just passing through." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7DkeQ0roAM
–
It seems lessismore beat me to the punch. http://hubski.com/pub?id=7297
Yeah, it's just a sloppy way of saying things, IMO. There is a collision, and photons and particles are ejected. I suppose what they are saying is that it won't look like billiard balls, but the way they say that is confusing. Even with billiards, most energy is transferred into kinetic energy of the products of the interaction. If the cue ball doesn't shatter the 8-ball, then a bit goes into deformation of the balls, friction, and some sound and heat. If it does shatter the 8-ball, then some more goes into breaking bonds too. At any rate, I think it's just an unnecessary sentence that obscures rather than clarifies what is going on.