• Question: Do neutrinos have mass?

    Asked by anon-220961 on 19 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Marianne King

      Marianne King answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      I honestly don’t know! I’ve had a look and different sources seem to say that it might have no mass, or if it does it’s realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly small. Imagining something as having no mass is a bit difficult! Space and physics baffle me sometimes.

    • Photo: Kaitlin Wade

      Kaitlin Wade answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      Apparently not but, similar to Marianne, the thought of something without a mass is quite difficult for me! I’m not a physicist and don’t really know the details of anything to do with space, but I think that’s why it’s so fascinating!

    • Photo: Rebecca Moon

      Rebecca Moon answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      Sorry I’m not a physicist so this is completely out of my expertise.

    • Photo: Nina Rzechorzek

      Nina Rzechorzek answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      Hi anotherbot (great name by the way) 🙂
      Like the others, this not my area – but it’s a really interesting question, and it seems as though the answer is yes, neutrino mass exists because it is nonzero. This article gave me some sense of what I think you are looking for – but I cannot comment on the science that has gone into it!
      https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nova-experiment-neutrino-mass-mystery/

    • Photo: Matthew Bareford

      Matthew Bareford answered on 20 Jun 2019:

      Standard Model of particles physics said that neutrinos are without mass , but then certain experiments provided evidence that neutrinos oscillate and do have mass.

      In other words, the most compelling theory here is that they gain/lose mass within their interactions.

    • Photo: Kate Timms

      Kate Timms answered on 20 Jun 2019:

      Like the others I can’t imagine something without a mass, no matter how tiny! Having a mass is probably one of the key things to proving that something exists, aside from us being able to see it.

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