THE GHOST PARTICLE

A 40 years hunt for solar neutrinos leads to a new understanding of matter itself.

Documentary
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/neutrino/

In this program, NOVA probes the secret ingredient of the cosmos: swarms of invisible particles that fill every
cubic inch of space and just may explain how the universe was created. Trillions
of ghostly neutrinos move through our bodies every second without us noticing a thing. Yet
without them the sun wouldn't shine and the elements that make up our world wouldn't exist. This
program explores the 70-year struggle so far to understand the most elusive of all elementary
particles, the neutrino.

Narrated by British actor Juliet Stevenson, "The Ghost Particle" is the story of a discovery hat altered scientists'
understanding of what the universe is made of and how it was first formed.

NOVA accompanies scientists into the laboratory, revealing astonishing footage of bizarre experiments.
Computer animation brings to life the neutrino particle, which is at once invisible and yet utterly essential to all life.
The program first takes audiences back to 1930, when Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli wrote to
his colleagues about the phenomenon of radioactive decay. The experts were puzzled by a missing
bit of energy that could not be accounted for in their picture of how a radioactive atomic
nucleus decays. Pauli suggested that an exquisitely tiny, previously unknown particle had to
exist to account for the missing energy. The problem with this theory, however, was that there
was no hard evidence of neutrinos' existence.

It seemed to be an impossible investigation. Neutrinos have no electric charge, making them
invisible to ordinary detecting equipment. Truly poltergeists among particles, they can pass
directly through thousands of miles of solid matter without slowing down. Yet every element
vital to life, including carbon and oxygen, is made by a chain of nuclear reactions that would
be impossible without neutrinos. They are an essential ingredient of the universe, and
catching these neutrinos became the ultimate scientific quest (see Case of the Missing Particles).

NOVA sits down with Professor John Bahcall and Nobel Prize winner Ray Davis, two men determined
to solve one of the biggest puzzles in particle physics. In the 1960s, they began their
scientific adventure with a daring underground experiment that few believed could succeed.
Vindication for both men is a long time in coming ... but come it does.

File Size : 349 Mb.

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Duration : 00:52:48
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