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| The '''Oh-My-God particle''' was an ] (most probably a proton) detected on the evening of 15 October 1991 over ], Utah. Its observation was a shock to ], who estimated its energy to be approximately {{val|3|e=20|u=eV}} (50 J)<ref> German Electron-Synchrotron. A Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association. Updated March 2006 by JCB. Original by John Baez.</ref>—in other words, a ] with kinetic energy equal to that of a ] ({{convert|5|oz|g|0|disp=or|sp=us}}) traveling at about {{convert| |
The '''Oh-My-God particle''' was an ] (most probably a proton) detected on the evening of 15 October 1991 over ], Utah. Its observation was a shock to ], who estimated its energy to be approximately {{val|3|e=20|u=eV}} (50 J)<ref> German Electron-Synchrotron. A Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association. Updated March 2006 by JCB. Original by John Baez.</ref>—in other words, a ] with kinetic energy equal to that of a ] ({{convert|5|oz|g|0|disp=or|sp=us}}) traveling at about {{convert|90|km/h|mph|-1|sp=us}}. | ||
| Traveling very close to the ], assuming that it was a proton then based on its observed energy it was travelling slower by only about 1.5 femtometers (quadrillionths of a meter) per second, translating to a speed of approximately 0.9999999999999999999999951c. At that speed, in a year-long race between light and the particle, the particle would fall behind only 46 ]s, or 0.15 femtoseconds ({{val|1.5|e=-16|u=s}}).<ref> | Traveling very close to the ], assuming that it was a proton then based on its observed energy it was travelling slower by only about 1.5 femtometers (quadrillionths of a meter) per second, translating to a speed of approximately 0.9999999999999999999999951c. At that speed, in a year-long race between light and the particle, the particle would fall behind only 46 ]s, or 0.15 femtoseconds ({{val|1.5|e=-16|u=s}}).<ref> | ||
Revision as of 04:06, 27 August 2012
Not to be confused with God particle.The Oh-My-God particle was an Ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (most probably a proton) detected on the evening of 15 October 1991 over Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Its observation was a shock to astrophysicists, who estimated its energy to be approximately 3×10 eV (50 J)—in other words, a subatomic particle with kinetic energy equal to that of a baseball (5 ounces or 142 grams) traveling at about 90 kilometers per hour (60 mph).
Traveling very close to the speed of light, assuming that it was a proton then based on its observed energy it was travelling slower by only about 1.5 femtometers (quadrillionths of a meter) per second, translating to a speed of approximately 0.9999999999999999999999951c. At that speed, in a year-long race between light and the particle, the particle would fall behind only 46 nanometers, or 0.15 femtoseconds (1.5×10 s).
The energy of this particle is some 40 million times that of the highest energy protons that have been produced in any terrestrial particle accelerator. However, only a small fraction of this energy would be available for an interaction with a proton or neutron on Earth, with most of the energy remaining in the form of kinetic energy of the products of the interaction. The effective energy available for such a collision is the square root of double the product of the particle's energy and the mass energy of the proton, which for this particle gives 7.5×10 eV, roughly 50 times the collision energy of the Large Hadron Collider.
Since the first observation, by the University of Utah's Fly's Eye Cosmic Ray Detector, at least fifteen similar events have been recorded, confirming the phenomenon. These very high energy cosmic ray particles are very rare; the energy of most cosmic ray particles is between 10 MeV and 10 GeV.
References
- Open Questions in Physics. German Electron-Synchrotron. A Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association. Updated March 2006 by JCB. Original by John Baez.
- J. Walker (January 4, 1994). "The Oh-My-God Particle". Fourmilab.
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