Particle physics update: Upper limit of neutrino mass has been revised downward
Physicists have done some stuff, very, very small stuff, in the lab. They now believe the upper mass limit of the nearly massless neutrino is almost 50% less that prior data allowed. Science News reports:
Neutrinos are known to have tiny masses. A new result proclaims the subatomic particles to be even tinier still.
The electrically neutral particles, produced in radioactive decays and in reactions in the sun and elsewhere in the cosmos, have a mass of less than 0.45 electron volts, physicists report in the April 11 Science. The result, from the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino, or KATRIN, experiment slashes the experiment’s previous upper limit for neutrino mass by nearly half.
Neutrinos are the only class of fundamental particle for which the mass, one of the most basic attributes of any particle, is unknown. The particles are so much lighter than others that they were long thought to have no mass at all.
The KATRIN instrument --
it weighs about 200 tons or about 440,924 lb
One eV (electron volt) represents the energy gained by an electron accelerated through a potential difference of one volt. That 'taint much. It's way less than a dust bunny.
How much does one eV weigh in g and oz?
Mass in grams: 8.01 × 10−34 g
Mass in ounces: 2.83 × 10−35 oz
For context, the average dust particle in your house weighs buttloads (metric units) more than that:
Mass in grams: 3.54×10−9 g
Mass in ounces: 1.25×10−10 oz
By Germaine: Seeker of the littlest and biggest of things, whether they like being sought or not
Huge masses
Littler masses
Rut roh! My car is on that list
in the left column ☹️
Bad Germaine, bad, bad Germaine!



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