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Yo dawg, I heard you like Neutrinos

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Log4Girlz

Member
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120314143146.htm

A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos -- nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. The message was sent through 240 meters of stone and said simply, "Neutrino."

Amazing. We need this tech in cell phones, I want perfect reception at the core of a planet.
 

Kenka

Member
What the fuck, the probability of having neutrinos interacting with matter is close to zero, how many times do you have to send a message to make sure the receiver gets it in complete form ?
 

Log4Girlz

Member
What the fuck, the probability of having neutrinos interacting with matter is close to zero, how many times do you have to send a message to make sure the receiver gets it in complete form ?

Its more about how many neutrinos can you generate per binary digit, as you get about 1 in 10 billion neutrinos detected.
 

Tacitus_

Member
In other words, the word "neutrino" was represented by a series of 1's and 0's, with the 1's corresponding to a group of neutrinos being fired and the 0's corresponding to no neutrinos being fired. The neutrinos were fired in large groups because they are so evasive that even with a multi-ton detector, only about one in ten billion neutrinos are detected.

A great scientific breakthrough, but unless we develop some crazy neutrino interceptor, this will have little practical value.
 

Kenka

Member
Its more about how many neutrinos can you generate per binary digit, as you get about 1 in 10 billion neutrinos detected.
Care to explain the concept a bit better ? Please.

edit: oh, I got it, ok. Yeah, I see. But generating neutrinos is expensive ? Or could that be a by-product of some existing widely spread process ? How feasible is it to use that technology in telecom ?
 

dalin80

Banned
Excellent for future space exploration, radio is far far too slow for anything further out then the moon and light is easily diffused/blocked.

A means of communication that cant be effectively blocked by physical objects and is all but the speed of light could be very useful.
 

Log4Girlz

Member
Care to explain the concept a bit better ? Please.

edit: oh, I got it, ok. Yeah, I see. But generating neutrinos is expensive ? Or could that be a by-product of some existing widely spread process ? How feasible is it to use that technology in telecom ?

Let's say in the first experiment they generate a single neutrino to represent the number 1. This would not get detected. Let's say by experiment 5 they send out 10 billion in a single burst, well the odds are they may catch a single neutrino. If by experiment ten they can create a burst of a trillion neutrinos to represent the number 1, it would be far more likely to be detected. So you want each number to be represented by trillions of neutrinos. You do not have to send the message a ton of times.

Excellent for future space exploration, radio is far far too slow for anything further out then the moon and light is easily diffused/blocked.

A means of communication that cant be effectively blocked by physical objects and is all but the speed of light could be very useful.

Neutrinos are a tad slower than all electromagnetic waves, which includes radio waves in a vacuum. Neutrinos can still pierce planets so its still cool.
 

Kenka

Member
Excellent for future space exploration, radio is far far too slow for anything further out then the moon and light is easily diffused/blocked.

A means of communication that cant be effectively blocked by physical objects and is all but the speed of light could be very useful.
The angular distance of a ship in distant space is really tiny. How can you commend the neutrinos to flow in one precise direction ?
 

Pandaman

Everything is moe to me
Excellent for future space exploration, radio is far far too slow for anything further out then the moon and light is easily diffused/blocked.

A means of communication that cant be effectively blocked by physical objects and is all but the speed of light could be very useful.

uh... cant get much better than the speed of light.
 

Log4Girlz

Member
The angular distance of a ship in distant space is really tiny. How can you commend the neutrinos to flow in one precise direction ?

You have to set up relay stations out in space if you ever want to communicate effectively, even if its by radio.
 

Kenka

Member
You have to set up relay stations out in space if you ever want to communicate effectively, even if its by radio.
Erf, and these relays must be powered somehow so that means they have to be in reasonable distance of a star (that is stable in addition). Some routes may be not practical then for cargo and people transport.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Erf, and these relays must be powered somehow so that means they have to be in reasonable distance of a star (that is stable in addition). Some routes may be not practical then for cargo and people transport.

Even worse, you need to have some kind of automatic protection system to prevent them from colliding with something or other (or any of the other numerous things that could happen to it) and some kind of remote repair system. Unless you want to be making a trip back anytime one of them breaks down.

Seeing as travel to anything far far away would take years and years, that's not really an option.
 
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