What Happens When Things Go Near the Speed
of Light?
What happens when particles go really fast, near the speed of light? You can
check it out by graphing some data.
- Your calulations: Calculate how far these mesons will travel before they decay and enter your data in a table.
These points will automatically be graphed.
- E687 data: Check how well your calculations match data from Fermilab Experiment E687 which creates extremely
energetic mesons with velocities near the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s).
- Computer-simulated data: Now, compare your calculations across a much wider (and more interesting) range of
velocities by generating some computer-simulated data with much lower speeds.
Play with the data!
Check the
Glossary for terms with which you are unfamiliar.