Oh-My-God_particle Oh-My-God_particle

Oh-My-God particle - Definition and Overview

On the evening of October 15, 1991, an ultra-high energy cosmic particle was observed over Salt Lake City, Utah. Dubbed the "Oh-My-God particle" (a play on the nickname "God particle" for the Higgs boson), it was estimated to have an energy of approximately 3 × 1020 electronvolts, equivalent to about 50 joules—in other words, it was a subatomic particle with macroscopic kinetic energy, comparable to that of a fastball, or to the mass-energy of a microbe. It was most likely a proton travelling with almost the speed of light (in the case that it was a proton its speed was approximately (<math>1 - 4.9 \times 10^{-24}<math>)c – after traveling one light year the particle would be only 46 nanometres behind a photon that left at the same time) and its observation was a shock to astrophysicists.

Since the first observation, by the University of Utah's Fly's Eye 2, at least fifteen similar events have been recorded, confirming the phenomenon. The source of such high energy particles remains a mystery.

Because of its mass the OMG particle would have experienced very little influence from cosmic fields, and so its trajectory should be easily calculable. However, nothing of note was found in the estimated direction of its origin.

External links

Example Usage of Oh-My-God

BossyCupkake: @IAmJericho http://twitpic.com/sbgyi - OH MY GOD I thought it was gonna be some itty bitty hanger but boy was I wrong I would've been scream
wilaysha12: Alright, let me pull myself together. But oh my god Philadelphia, the ending and Denzel are 3 pungent forces that may make a person tear up.
follower182: Music is love in search of a word. -Sidney Lanier oh. my. god. that's so powerful.
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