Mass moving faster than light!

[naymissus]

Well so said Susan Cartwright on today's Melvyn Bragg show

You see neutrinos have a tiny mass, and when masses travelling near to the velocity of light in vacuo pass from a vacuum into another medium (such as glass or water then they are not slowed down (unless they collide with a nucleus)
Light on th other hand, when it meets a denser medium, is slowed down and hence for a neutrino travelling at 99% of c and a photon travelling at c entering water at the same time, the photon is slowed down but not the neutrino so the neutrino is travelling faster than light!

Now that is very interesting

[nickcosmosonde]

It is, but what about it does Abacus feel needs further discussion?

For once, quite a comprehensible Wiki article on it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

[abacus9900]

Well, yes, it is the case that in water, say, light slows down to about 3/4 of its speed in a vacuum so that electrons are able in this context to travel faster than the speed of light.

[nickcosmosonde]

Did you read this fascinating link?