Did CERN just break physics?

Yes this is all very interesting but we need ships to travel faster than the speed of light. Not these neutrino thingies.

Baring in mind I have never studied physics, have a very rudimentary understanding of maths and probably not that bright.

Can someone explain to me why the speed of "light" is so important or does that just happened to be the metre stick against which we measure things?

In absolute darkness, in a perfect vacuum why cant something go faster than the speed of light?

Basically, a photon (light) has no mass. The more mass you add to something, the more energy you need to accelerate it.

As the photon has no mass, it will go the fastest compared to any other piece of matter in the universe. To accelerate a normal piece of matter to the speed of light would require infinite amounts of energy, which is impossible. Plus, the faster you go, the slower time goes. So for a normal piece of matter, light speed travel would essentially 'stop' time, preventing it from being able to accelerate any further.

That's my understanding in a nutshell.

Although Neutrinos have mass, which is why them breaking the speed of light is so interesting.
 
i know about red (and blue) shift and how all that works, however you are 100% wrong in your second paragraph if i am understanding what you mean correctly. what you are saying is that if light beam A is travelling in one direction in space (at the speed of light, naturally) and light beam B is travelling towards light beam A at the speed of light then the closing speed (the rate at which the gap between beam A and B is getting smaller) is the speed of light. that is physically impossible because then the light beams would really be going half the speed of light.

anyway, i think the original problem is me not explaining things properly. a diagram of what i'm on about should help:

Code:
C = cerns position
D = detectors position
[  ] = earth
- = neutrinos position

neutrinos are created, going instantly at light speed:

         [C-                                    D]
time passes, earth moves through space in opposite direction to neutrinos 
(i have no idea how much)
       [C            -                        D]
     [C                          -          D]
   [C                                    -D]
neutrino's have now arrived

physical distance between cern and detector:
         [C                                     D]
distance neutrinos have traveled:
         [C                               D]

neutrinos went at light speed but because the physical distance they travelled 
is smaller than the actual distance between cern and the detector they 
appeared to go faster when doing the time/distance calculations
hopefully you see what im getting at now. the way to check if this is the case is to do the experiment in a lab where the emitter and detector are at opposite ends relative to the ones at cern, but i dont know if something like that exists (and it would be ****ing expensive)

For the observers, the neutrino and the people travelling with the planet, c should still hold. At least that's what I interpreted from the famous thought experiment below.

A train travelling at the speed within which you walk from one end to the other. You've broken the speed of light? Incorrect (exact explanation of which I never bothered or was capable of understanding).

The closing speed for outside observers could be above the speed of light.
 
i know about red (and blue) shift and how all that works, however you are 100% wrong in your second paragraph if i am understanding what you mean correctly. what you are saying is that if light beam A is travelling in one direction in space (at the speed of light, naturally) and light beam B is travelling towards light beam A at the speed of light then the closing speed (the rate at which the gap between beam A and B is getting smaller) is the speed of light. that is physically impossible because then the light beams would really be going half the speed of light.

anyway, i think the original problem is me not explaining things properly. a diagram of what i'm on about should help:

hopefully you see what im getting at now. the way to check if this is the case is to do the experiment in a lab where the emitter and detector are at opposite ends relative to the ones at cern, but i dont know if something like that exists (and it would be ****ing expensive)

Good thought, but relativity does take such things into account.
 
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