3 ms·

Ars Technica has an article, as well, with some additional context/explanation. https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/most-energetic-neutrino-yet-seen-smashe

Ars Technica has an article, as well, with some additional context/explanation. https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/most-energetic-neutrino-yet-seen-smashes-through-seafloor-detector/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/most-energetic-neutr... And an interesting, somewhat related, video from PBS Space Time exploring how supernovas act as particle accelerators (but don't quite explain particles like this one or the 'Oh My God' particle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sSNWIJbV3Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sSNWIJbV3Q

dr_dshiv 2y ago
Neutrinos “interact with regular matter so rarely that it's estimated you'd need about a light-year of lead to completely block a bright source of them. Every one of us has tens of trillions of neutrinos passing through us every second, but fewer than five of them actually interact with the matter in our bodies in our entire lifetimes.” They have 1/500,000 the mass of electrons. They interact only through the super short range weak force (and gravity). Nearly 5% of fission energy is expressed in neutrinos. And, they may be their own antiparticles, meaning they can potentially annihilate each other. Wild that these things can carry so much energy!
- ricksunny 2y ago
  >Every one of us has tens of trillions of neutrinos passing through us every second, but fewer than five of them actually interact with the matter in our bodies in our entire lifetimes.” Oh, but those five...
  - lubujackson 2y ago
    Next time I trip over nothing I am blaming those "darn neutrinos messing up my knee!"
    - cozzyd 2y ago
      The funny thing is a km^3 scale detector like km3net or icecube has roughly the same mass as all humans combined
      - defrost 2y ago
        Equally hilarious, the Kalgoorlie Super Pit has a volume of 3.15 cubic kilometers. That's a single, albeit large, gold mining pit and a fraction of the even greater volume excavated by humans looking for shiny stuff.
        Someone 2y ago
        We mine about a cubic mile of oil every year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cubic_Mile_of_Oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cubic_Mile_of_Oil). That’s 4 km³.
- steveoscaro 2y ago
  These rare interactions with matter are also a cause of concern in voting machines, right? Or at least it was a concern at one point. A random bit being flipped or something.
  - dtgriscom 2y ago
    Other types of particles interact much more frequently. But yes: bits do get flipped (even with ECC memory).
  - tasty_freeze 2y ago
    It is mostly a problem of DRAM memory cells, though theoretically with enough energy it could flip SRAM cells to or override the driver of a given wire. It is not specific to voting machines. But the main source is from cosmic rays and local radiation sources in the ceramic packaging and/or decaying elements in the metal frame/leads/solder.
- irchans 2y ago
  Interesting "fact" - The total amount of lead in the universe is a somewhat less than a cubic light year.
  - sfn42 2y ago
    How could we possibly estimate that if we don't even know the size of the universe?

dr_dshiv 2y ago

Neutrinos “interact with regular matter so rarely that it's estimated you'd need about a light-year of lead to completely block a bright source of them. Every one of us has tens of trillions of neutrinos passing through us every second, but fewer than five of them actually interact with the matter in our bodies in our entire lifetimes.” They have 1/500,000 the mass of electrons. They interact only through the super short range weak force (and gravity). Nearly 5% of fission energy is expressed in neutrinos. And, they may be their own antiparticles, meaning they can potentially annihilate each other. Wild that these things can carry so much energy!

ricksunny 2y ago
>Every one of us has tens of trillions of neutrinos passing through us every second, but fewer than five of them actually interact with the matter in our bodies in our entire lifetimes.” Oh, but those five...
- lubujackson 2y ago
  Next time I trip over nothing I am blaming those "darn neutrinos messing up my knee!"
  - cozzyd 2y ago
    The funny thing is a km^3 scale detector like km3net or icecube has roughly the same mass as all humans combined
    - defrost 2y ago
      Equally hilarious, the Kalgoorlie Super Pit has a volume of 3.15 cubic kilometers. That's a single, albeit large, gold mining pit and a fraction of the even greater volume excavated by humans looking for shiny stuff.
      - Someone 2y ago
        We mine about a cubic mile of oil every year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cubic_Mile_of_Oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cubic_Mile_of_Oil). That’s 4 km³.
steveoscaro 2y ago
These rare interactions with matter are also a cause of concern in voting machines, right? Or at least it was a concern at one point. A random bit being flipped or something.
- dtgriscom 2y ago
  Other types of particles interact much more frequently. But yes: bits do get flipped (even with ECC memory).
- tasty_freeze 2y ago
  It is mostly a problem of DRAM memory cells, though theoretically with enough energy it could flip SRAM cells to or override the driver of a given wire. It is not specific to voting machines. But the main source is from cosmic rays and local radiation sources in the ceramic packaging and/or decaying elements in the metal frame/leads/solder.
irchans 2y ago
Interesting "fact" - The total amount of lead in the universe is a somewhat less than a cubic light year.
- sfn42 2y ago
  How could we possibly estimate that if we don't even know the size of the universe?