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Had it not been for the study into the nature of matter itself, the twentieth century probably would be without television, atomic power, and space satellites. This Program looks into a branch of science called particle physics, a study of sub nuclear particles. The experiments are being carried out at the Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory. This is the story of experiments in a field where the lifespan of one of the subjects can be less than a billionth of a second and where the subject has no mass or shape –terms almost impossible for the layman to visualize yet alone comprehend. One of the particles which scientists know little about is the neutrino, a neutral particle carrying no electrical charge, but which some day may yield the key to the universe. Scientists say the neutrino does not have mass and the only way it can be observed is by collecting trillions of them and forcing them to collide with other particles, and then observing the damage of that collision. To accomplish this collision, a maze of machinery and nearly infinite timing and precision is required. This program reports on some of these experiments and the machinery employed. For these experiments, where the sub nuclear particles are in existence less than a few billionths of a second and are without mass, scientists have invented various detection devices. A sophisticated electron detector can observe and record these collisions in a manner similar to conventional radar which can follow aircraft. Another method which the program illustrates is high-speed photography which is capable of following the collision in the same way vapor trails from a high-altitude jet can be photographed without the camera capturing the plan itself. The ambition of the sub nuclear physicist is to unify all of nature’s phenomena into coherent sets of laws. His eventual goal is to find the answers that are at the core of the universe.
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