Speed of Light Exceeded?

Speed of Light Exceeded? 393

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @03:34AM from the when-pigs-fly-faster-than-light dept.

PreacherTom writes "Scientists at the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, NJ are reporting that they have broken the speed of light. For the experiment, the researchers manipulated a vapor of laser-irradiated atoms, causing a pulse that propagates about 300 times faster than light would travel in a vacuum. The pulse seemed to exit the chamber even before entering it." This research was published in Nature, so presumably it was peer-reviewed. It's impossible from the CBC story to determine what is being claimed. First of all they get the physics wrong by asserting that Einstein's special relativity only decrees that matter cannot exceed the speed of light. Wrong. Matter cannot touch the speed of light in vacuum; energy (e.g. light) cannot exceed it; and information cannot be transferred faster than this limit. What exactly the researchers achieved, and what they claim, can only be determined at this point by subscribers to Nature.

Speed of Light Exceeded?

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It works... (Score:5, Funny)

by fortunato ( 106228 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @03:36AM (#18247368)

I wrote this yesterday.

Re:It works... (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @03:38AM (#18247372)

expect a dupe tomorrow

Re:Results of experiment published in the past (Score:5, Funny)

by darkitecture ( 627408 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @03:41AM (#18247404)

This story is from November 2000.

So the dupe will be posted 6 years ago? Awesome! I'm looking forward to it.

Time . . . (Score:5, Funny)

by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @03:51AM (#18247436) Journal

"Good. No, the answer is an orange and two lemons."

"Lemons?"

"If I have three lemons and three oranges and I lose two oranges and a lemon, what do I have left?"

"Huh?"

"Okay, so you think that time flows that way, do you?"

-Mostly Harmless

Obligitory Futurama (Score:5, Funny)

by Rik Sweeney ( 471717 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:01AM (#18247472) Homepage

Farnsworth: These are the dark matter engines I invented. They allow my starship to travel between galaxies in mere hours.
Cubert: That's impossible. You can't go faster than the speed of light.
Farnsworth: Of course not. That's why scientists increased the speed of light in 2208.

Re:It works... (Score:2, Funny)

by jigyasubalak ( 308473 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:01AM (#18247476)

That's nothing. I will write this tomorrow.

Re:Results of experiment published in the past (Score:5, Funny)

by unitron ( 5733 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:04AM (#18247500) Homepage Journal

So the dupe will be posted 6 years ago? Awesome! I'm looking forward to it.

Shouldn't you be looking backward to it?

Funny (Score:5, Funny)

by __aahlyu4518 ( 74832 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:09AM (#18247528)

On my google startpage I have the 'quotes of the day'. Just now I noticed there was a quote from Woody Allen : "It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off."

Re:Slashdot is not the proper forum for speculatio (Score:3, Funny)

by JRHelgeson ( 576325 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:19AM (#18247574) Homepage Journal

You moron! Can't you see that the information contained in the article appeared back in November 2000 yet the test was conducted on March 2007? This is further PROOF that they have exceeded the speed of light as the information contained in the article appeared six years prior to the tests being reported at Slashdot.

So: kdawson's integrity remains intact. :)

Re:Group Velocity Again (Score:5, Funny)

by jez9999 ( 618189 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @04:53AM (#18247726) Homepage Journal

So YOU were the one causing that damn red blob when I was trying to watch the eclipse? Go test out your new laser toy elsewhere!

Re:It works... (Score:4, Funny)

by jimmydevice ( 699057 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @06:41AM (#18248094)

Researchers note that the equipment was set to 11 to produce the results.

Re:Group Velocity Again (Score:3, Funny)

by achurch ( 201270 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @06:43AM (#18248102) Homepage

It's exactly the same experiment we've seen time & time again, and it's meaningless because no information is transmitted.

Well, I guess that explains why we keep seeing dupes about it.

Re:Results of experiment published in the past (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @06:48AM (#18248120)

Dang, no wonder I missed it next time around.

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

by FractalZone ( 950570 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @07:08AM (#18248176) Homepage

A nice example, but what is it supposed to show?

Sufficient amounts of ingested caffeine can make everything seem faster! I like experiements which require one to consume an entire can of coffee in order to cut slots it in to do psudo-physics research. :-)

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

by kickedfortrolling ( 952486 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @07:45AM (#18248306)

you're just lucky you're not in soviet russia- where i understand the subject and objects of a statement are reversed for the sake of comedy

Dupe -- The Space Shuttle Beat Them (Score:5, Funny)

by fire-eyes ( 522894 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @08:27AM (#18248456) Homepage

Maybe it's due to the time bending effects of this, but the space shuttle already beat them.

CNN doesn't lie!
http://fire-eyes.org/gal/v/hmr/cln/shuttleisfast.j pg.html [fire-eyes.org]

Re:here is my example (Score:4, Funny)

by Gerzel ( 240421 ) writes: <brollyferret@nospAM.gmail.com> on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @09:15AM (#18248690) Journal

We do! We just send some stuff to other places in the past to make you feel better about yourselves.

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

by The Warlock ( 701535 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @09:31AM (#18248790)

Exactly. And it's gotten a lot easier now that we've figured out how to break the speed of light.

Re:It works... (Score:5, Funny)

by EinZweiDrei ( 955497 ) * writes: <einzweidrei@wildmail.com> on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @09:51AM (#18248912)

'Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws. The Hingefreel people of Arkintoofle Minor did try to build spaceships that were powered by bad news but they didn't work particularly well and were so extremely unwelcome whenever they arrived anywhere that there wasn't really any point in being there.'

Re:It works... (Score:3, Funny)

by TriezGamer ( 861238 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @10:47AM (#18249430)

The only mental image that gives me is of a man hitting the piece of rebar, adding some rotational velocity, and getting slapped by the tail end of it as it passes...

Re:here is my example (Score:4, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @11:04AM (#18249602)

In soviet russia, the subject and objects reverse YOU!

Re:It works... (Score:5, Funny)

by frdmfghtr ( 603968 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @11:21AM (#18249778)

expect a dupe tomorrow

No, this is the dupe. The original will be posted tomorrow.

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

by hotdiggitydawg ( 881316 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @12:15PM (#18250494)

Obligatory Steven Wright:

"I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time."

Re:It works... (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @12:30PM (#18250702)

Since it's a wave embedded within an already moving body, the speed of the wave would be a simple V=U+v'

But only inside that moving body.

My question though, is if I had a rope that was one lightyear long, and I tied it to the bumper of my interstellar pickup truck, what gear do I need to be in to rip my ex-wife's shrubbery out of my front yard without tearing up my transmission?

Re:here is my example (Score:3, Funny)

by anagama ( 611277 ) writes: <obamaisaneocon@nothingchanged.org> on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @12:41PM (#18250812) Homepage

From the "100 reasons why coffee is better than women": instant coffee.

Re:here is my example (Score:3, Funny)

by knewter ( 62953 ) writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @01:19PM (#18251454)

Then you should make a killing making 'optical occlusion' interconnects for processors. Think how you could dominate those silly optical interconnects :) Freaking lowly 'c' speed...

Re:here is my example (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday March 06, 2007 @02:25PM (#18252604)

Breaking the speed of light is easy. Any child can do it.

Get a flashlight. A "torch" for the Brits. Any flashlight will do for the most part.

Put in a set of really fresh batteries and turn it on. Verify that it works by shining it on walls or the floor or whatever.

Do NOT aim at face.

Now, with the flashlight running, put your hand over the lit end so the light is blocked.

Congratulations, you've broken the speed of light.

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Speed of Light Exceeded? 393

Speed of Light Exceeded? More Login

Speed of Light Exceeded?

It works... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Results of experiment published in the past (Score:5, Funny)

Time . . . (Score:5, Funny)

Obligitory Futurama (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Results of experiment published in the past (Score:5, Funny)

Funny (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Slashdot is not the proper forum for speculatio (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Group Velocity Again (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Group Velocity Again (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Results of experiment published in the past (Score:2, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

Dupe -- The Space Shuttle Beat Them (Score:5, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:4, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:4, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It works... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:3, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:3, Funny)

Re:here is my example (Score:1, Funny)

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