![]() Sometimes, during the collision with a quark or anti-quark, the neutrino may change into a charged lepton, such as an electron, a muon or a tau. Precisely how observation this is done depends on the individual detector. The neutrino will continue on undetected, but the recoiling protons, neutrons and pions can be observed as they too run into other atomic nuclei, smashing them apart in turn. Suppose a neutrino does hit a quark or anti-quark inside an atomic nucleus what happens next? If the neutrino has enough energy, it will blow the nucleus apart into its protons and neutrons, and often, if the neutrino’s energy is quite high, also make some pions (another types of hadron: a particle made out of quarks, antiquarks and gluons like the proton and neutron). But this process doesn’t happen very often, because it involves the weak nuclear force, and (especially for low-energy neutrinos) the weakness of that force assures such collisions are very rare. ![]() The same goes for a neutrino hitting an electron on the outskirts of an atom. If a neutrino enters the nucleus of an atom, passes into one of the protons or neutrons, and (roughly speaking) comes very close to a quark (or anti-quark) in the proton or neutron, then there is a moderate chance that the neutrino and quark (or anti-quark) will strike each other. But a tiny, tiny fraction of these neutrinos do actually hit something. These too go right through you.Īlmost always. Cosmic rays (high energy particles flying in from deep space) often strike atoms in the high atmosphere and produce a number of neutrinos. ![]() They are flooding out of the sun, from its central furnace, and even if it is nighttime where you are, those neutrinos are passing right through the earth and through your body as though the earth wasn’t even there. Neutrinos are passing through your body in vast numbers at all times. This layperson’s explanation of to how to detect neutrinos is a companion post to the one that explains how to make a neutrino beam. ![]()
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