What Happens When Things Go Near the Speed of Light?

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What happens when particles go really fast, near the speed of light? You can check it out by graphing some data.
  1. 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.

  2. 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).

  3. 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.