Thanks Hex, really interesting, I have a great question to ask on something else
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CERN is going to build a collider that is straight and not curved. Apparently you can get faster beam speeds and higher energies.
Currently when they bash particles into each other, each particle is approaching the speed of light...........
So lets say when two cars do 70mph and hit head on, the combined speed of impact is 140 mph. most cars cant do 190 mph, but you could study the impact forces by colliding two cars the same, at 95mph each. Stick a test dummy in it and the experience for the dummy is like a 190 mph crash.
E=MC2, well loved and known. Energy = the Mass multiplied by the squared speed of Light.
Relativity says that as you get very close to the speed of light, then time begins to slow as it relative to the point in space and the observer etc.
CERN hasnt seen some of the particles it expected to see in collisions, but why should those particles exist at those speeds?
What I am getting at is........... If you have two particles heading towards each other at near the speed of light, what happens to time in relation to them, just at the point before impact? Although they are under the speed of the light, the moment of impact is at an equivalent speed greater than the speed of light. So does that mean for some (probably low mass) particles, the impact itself stops them from existing? Time stops at the point they would be produced???
Or am I doing my over thinking thing again?