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Original air date:
10.24.07
Scientists Search for Remnants of the Sun Deep Underground
This summer's feature movie Sunshine portrays Earth 50 years into the future, when scientists discover the sun is failing and humanity is doomed. While the scenario is certainly fantastical, it’s true the sun won't survive in its current form forever, and with its demise will come our own. How can we be sure we'll be able to rely on the sun at least for a little while longer?
Thankfully, a group of physicists are on top of the problem—albeit from a depth 6,800 feet below the surface of the earth. These enterprising scientists are working in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, or SNOLAB, a nickel-mining site located deep under Sudbury, Ontario. There they are studying neutrinos, some of the most mysterious elementary particles in the universe. Neutrinos are next to impossible to detect yet pass through our bodies every second by the trillion. Most of the ones we unknowingly come into contact with originated from our sun, which produces more than 200 trillion trillion trillion neutrinos every second as byproducts of nuclear fusion.
By studying neutrinos here on Earth, physicists can learn a lot about what's going on inside the sun. But these particles are extremely elusive and are therefore best observed in a "quiet" environment—quiet not in terms of sound, but radiation. At the surface of Earth, the atmosphere is rife with background radiation that we don't notice but which interferes with the detection of particles like the neutrino. Deep underground at the SNOLAB, however, the thickness of the earth filters out this unwanted "noise" without filtering out the neutrinos and allows the physicists to "see" the particles. In SNOLAB, scientists trap neutrinos in a 10-story-tall geodesic sphere, where the neutrinos’ interaction with certain molecules causes them to emit tiny flashes of light. These flashes are far too small for the human eye to see but can be picked up by the 9,600 light-detecting photomultiplier tubes spanning the outside of the giant sphere. Data from the sphere maps out the presence and behavior of the same neutrinos that originated inside our sun. And that data confirms we've got a good four to five billion years before we need to be worried about changes to our sun. At that point, it is expected to balloon into a red giant that will boil all of Earth's water away and cause our atmosphere to disappear.
In the meantime, scientists at SNOLAB will continue to learn more about our big star and its secrets—all deep underground, where they won't have to even think about putting on sunscreen.
65 Posts
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10.24.07 11:19 AM PDT
newt
This is awsome, and mind-boggling when you think of it.
10.24.07 6:08 PM PDT
Deb Curtis
Four to five billion years.....WHEW!!!!
10.24.07 11:25 PM PDT
John T Fontenot
What is the name of the negro physicist with grey hair and beard interviewed in this episode ( 10/24 or 25/07 ) about quantum physics and the very new linear accelerator opening soon in Switzerland and how can I E-mail him or telephone him (what university, society, or organization)?
Please respond. Thank you.
10.24.07 11:29 PM PDT
John T Fontenot
My previous E-mail was about the physicist interviewed by Ziya Tong
10.25.07 12:09 AM PDT
Phil Nordblom
I heard that neutrinos may explain what dark matter is.....any guesses
10.25.07 7:31 AM PDT
UhG
What a great story! It's like these guys are astronomers, but are 6800 feet below the Earth. Cool.
10.25.07 9:57 AM PDT
jay
Experiment Cave was the most interesting and a fantastic segment! Awesome information! The correspondent, Ben Dickow, was excellent.! His voice kept the subject even more exciting and interesting! Great reporting on this segment!
Thanks!
10.25.07 7:26 PM PDT
Alyssa
Loved watching and listening to your segment on neutrinos. Ben Dickow made the program even more interesting and I hope to see more of him in your up coming segments.
10.25.07 11:42 PM PDT
joshua
Ben Dikow (sp) made it very interesting. Less dry than the other stories IMO.
11.2.07 4:42 PM PDT
Anthony
Wow, that's cool! I didn't know scientists go underground to study the Sun.
12.13.07 9:05 AM PST
Brian
I was interested in the #137 by the theoretical physist. What were the components of his equation? Thx.
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