How can neutrinos travel through solid matter? | Even Bananas

Trillions of neutrinos pass through you (and the entire Earth) every second without interacting. How do they pull off this incredible feat? Physicist Kirsty Duffy explains the origin of the neutrino’s superpower on this episode of #EvenBananas.

Even Bananas playlist (Neutrino Extended Universe Series):

How big is a neutrino?

All Things Neutrino:

Fermilab physics 101:

Fermilab home page:

Production Credits:
Host: Kirsty Duffy
Creator: Lauren Biron
Writers: Lauren Biron, Kirsty Duffy, Ryan Postel
Director/Editor: Ryan Postel
Craft Services: Luke Pickering
Illustration Designer: Diana Brandonisio
Theme Song: Scott Hershberger
Science Advisors: Andy Furmanski, Luke Pickering

[joseraulcapablanca]

Thanks Doctor Duffy, this was entertaining and illuminating.

[shikhanshu]

wow, what a brilliantly simple explanation of "touch" and why neutrinos can pass through solid objects... never understood it so clearly ever before

[amphibiousone]

Outstanding simple easy and concise detailed explanation thanks 🙏🏼

[weskal]

Thank you for such an easy-to-understand explanation! What I also find absolutely mind blowing is how such brilliant scientific and engineering minds worked out how to build the technology to be able to discover and observe these subatomic particles.

[sengelbr]

Wow- it's takes a HUGE amount of effort to explain something so complex so simply, I love this woman!

[davidfdzp]

Shouldn't all neutrinos have the same mass considering they can transform from one into another due to the so called neutrino oscillation? How comes they can have different masses if they are becoming one or another? Where is the mass difference going to and coming from?

[marcuspradas]

Excellent video once again!!!! Before it, I thought that neutrinos should interact more with barriers of light elements, for the nuclei are smaller, but the atomic radii are smaller too. You always learn new things. Thanks

[DEtchells]

Super interesting & clearly presented, thanks! I have a related question (questions, really) though:

=> If the different kinds of neutrinos have different masses, how can they oscillate between different types? If a heavier one turned into a lighter one, where did the extra mass/energy go to? If a lighter one turned into a heavier one, where did the mass/energy come from? Does their velocity change? What’s the mechanism that would allow them to trade kinetic energy for mass?

[Valdagast]

But neutrinos are fermions, so they do feel the Pauli principle wrt other neutrinos, right? If you had a lot of neutrinos in a box (assuming you had neutrino-proof walls, which is bizarre) and squeezed the box you'd feel a pressure as the neutrinos got closer?

[duran]

I will NEVER believe in the existence of neutrinos unless u take me into a tour inside Fermilab. 🙄 🙏🤞
I live in Chicago for years & no one invited me there. 🥺😭

[SpotterVideo]

Conservation of Spatial Curvature (both Matter and Energy described as "Quanta" of Spatial Curvature)

Is there an alternative interpretation of "Asymptotic Freedom"? What if Quarks are actually made up of twisted tubes which become physically entangled with two other twisted tubes to produce a proton? Instead of the Strong Force being mediated by the exchange of gluons, it would be mediated by the physical entanglement of these twisted tubes. When only two twisted tubules are entangled, a meson is produced which is unstable and rapidly unwinds (decays) into something else. A proton would be analogous to three twisted rubber bands becoming entangled and the "Quarks" would be the places where the tubes are tangled together. The behavior would be the same as rubber balls (representing the Quarks) connected with twisted rubber bands being separated from each other or placed closer together producing the exact same phenomenon as "Asymptotic Freedom" in protons and neutrons. The force would become greater as the balls are separated, but the force would become less if the balls were placed closer together.

String Theory was not a waste of time, because Geometry is the key to Math and Physics. However, can we describe Standard Model interactions using only one extra spatial dimension?

What if we describe subatomic particles as spatial curvature, instead of trying to describe General Relativity as being mediated by particles? Fixing the Standard Model with more particles is like trying to mend a torn fishing net with small rubber balls, instead of a piece of twisted twine.

Quantum Entangled Twisted Tubules:
“We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.” Neils Bohr
(lecture on a theory of elementary particles given by Wolfgang Pauli in New York, c. 1957–8, in Scientific American vol. 199, no. 3, 1958)

The following is meant to be a generalized framework for an extension of Kaluza-Klein Theory. Does it agree with the “Twistor Theory” of Roger Penrose, and the work of Eric Weinstein on “Geometric Unity”? During the early history of mankind, the twisting of fibers was used to produce thread, and this thread was used to produce fabrics. The twist of the thread is locked up within these fabrics. Is matter made up of twisted 3D-4D structures which store spatial curvature that we describe as “particles"? Are the twist cycles the "quanta" of Quantum Mechanics?

When we draw a sine wave on a blackboard, we are representing spatial curvature. Does a photon transfer spatial curvature from one location to another? Wrap a piece of wire around a pencil and it can produce a 3D coil of wire, much like a spring. When viewed from the side it can look like a two-dimensional sine wave. You could coil the wire with either a right-hand twist, or with a left-hand twist. Could Planck's Constant be proportional to the twist cycles. A photon with a higher frequency has more energy. ( E=hf, More spatial curvature as the frequency increases = more Energy ). What if gluons are actually made up of these twisted tubes which become entangled with other tubes to produce quarks. (In the same way twisted electrical extension cords can become entangled.) Therefore, the gluons are a part of the quarks. Quarks cannot exist without gluons, and vice-versa. Mesons are made up of two entangled tubes (Quarks/Gluons), while protons and neutrons would be made up of three entangled tubes. (Quarks/Gluons) The "Color Charge" would be related to the XYZ coordinates (orientation) of entanglement. "Asymptotic Freedom", and "flux tubes" are logically based on this concept. The Dirac “belt trick” also reveals the concept of twist in the ½ spin of subatomic particles. If each twist cycle is proportional to h, we have identified the source of Quantum Mechanics as a consequence twist cycle geometry.

Modern physicists say the Strong Force is mediated by a constant exchange of Mesons. The diagrams produced by some modern physicists actually represent the Strong Force like a spring connecting the two quarks. Asymptotic Freedom acts like real springs. Their drawing is actually more correct than their theory and matches perfectly to what I am saying in this model. You cannot separate the Gluons from the Quarks because they are a part of the same thing. The Quarks are the places where the Gluons are entangled with each other.

Neutrinos would be made up of a twisted torus (like a twisted donut) within this model. The twist in the torus can either be Right-Hand or Left-Hand. Some twisted donuts can be larger than others, which can produce three different types of neutrinos. If a twisted tube winds up on one end and unwinds on the other end as it moves through space, this would help explain the “spin” of normal particles, and perhaps also the “Higgs Field”. However, if the end of the twisted tube joins to the other end of the twisted tube forming a twisted torus (neutrino), would this help explain “Parity Symmetry” violation in Beta Decay? Could the conversion of twist cycles to writhe cycles through the process of supercoiling help explain “neutrino oscillations”? Spatial curvature (mass) would be conserved, but the structure could change.

Gravity is a result of a very small curvature imbalance within atoms. (This is why the force of gravity is so small.) Instead of attempting to explain matter as "particles", this concept attempts to explain matter more in the manner of our current understanding of the space-time curvature of gravity. If an electron has qualities of both a particle and a wave, it cannot be either one. It must be something else. Therefore, a "particle" is actually a structure which stores spatial curvature. Can an electron-positron pair (which are made up of opposite directions of twist) annihilate each other by unwinding into each other producing Gamma Ray photons?

Does an electron travel through space like a threaded nut traveling down a threaded rod, with each twist cycle proportional to Planck’s Constant? Does it wind up on one end, while unwinding on the other end? Is this related to the Higgs field? Does this help explain the strange ½ spin of many subatomic particles? Does the 720 degree rotation of a 1/2 spin particle require at least one extra dimension?

Alpha decay occurs when the two protons and two neutrons (which are bound together by entangled tubes), become un-entangled from the rest of the nucleons

. Beta decay occurs when the tube of a down quark/gluon in a neutron becomes overtwisted and breaks producing a twisted torus (neutrino) and an up quark, and the ejected electron. The production of the torus may help explain the “Symmetry Violation” in Beta Decay, because one end of the broken tube section is connected to the other end of the tube produced, like a snake eating its tail. The phenomenon of Supercoiling involving twist and writhe cycles may reveal how overtwisted quarks can produce these new particles. The conversion of twists into writhes, and vice-versa, is an interesting process, which is also found in DNA molecules.

Gamma photons are produced when a tube unwinds producing electromagnetic waves.


Within this model a black hole could represent a quantum of gravity, because it is one cycle of spatial gravitational curvature. Therefore, instead of a graviton being a subatomic particle it could be considered to be a black hole. The overall gravitational attraction would be caused by a very tiny curvature imbalance within atoms. We know there is an unequal distribution of electrical charge within each atom because the positive charge is concentrated within the nucleus, even though the overall electrical charge of the atom is balanced by equal positive and negative charge.

In this model Alpha equals the compactification ratio within the twistor cone, which is approximately 1/137.

1= Hypertubule diameter at 4D interface

137= Cone’s larger end diameter at 3D interface where the photons are absorbed or emitted.

The 4D twisted Hypertubule gets longer or shorter as twisting or untwisting occurs. (720 degrees per twist cycle.)


How many neutrinos are left over from the Big Bang? They have a small mass, but they could be very large in number. Could this help explain Dark Matter?


Why did Paul Dirac use the twist in a belt to help explain particle spin? Is Dirac’s belt trick related to this model? Is the “Quantum” unit based on twist cycles?



I started out imagining a subatomic Einstein-Rosen Bridge whose internal surface is twisted with either a Right-Hand twist, or a Left-Hand twist producing a twisted 3D/4D membrane. The model grew out of that simple idea.

I was also trying to imagine a way to stuff the curvature of a 3 D sine wave into subatomic particles.
.

[charleswagon]

Well done. I've learned so much about Neutrinos today. You're a very good presenter keep the videos coming.

[francisco]

Can a neutrino interact with another one?

[Sprengstoff]

I always add some to my morning coffe!

[-johnny-deep-]

I think this was highly misleading. A neutrino is often said to be able to pass through multiple lightyears of solid lead undisturbed. But if you describe a neutrino and atomic nuclei only as simple extremely tiny billiard ball like objects, there is no way there would be any straight line paths through a few feet of lead, let alone a few lightyears, that don’t intersect a nuclei! Something else must be going on that can’t be described in old fashioned “solid ball” Newtonian terms that keeps the neutrino from interacting with the nuclei.

[ScottJWaldron]

A fantastic easy to understand overview of neutrinos!

[nimac]

Would it still be able to pass through a neutron star?

[freagarthach]

So, whenever anyone touches me and I don't like it, I should say: "Don't you dare Pauli exclude me!"?

[rayoflight]

Look at Feynman path integral, push the math at its extremes, and you can see the writing on the wall about the things to come.
Our understanding of space is very limited, the difference between bosons and fermions (i.e., particles of matter and particles of light, which do not follow Pauli principle) is purely determined by their connections and/or interactions with true Space, an entity where the future is already happened...

[tedlis]

Is it correct that a neutrino with higher energy has a higher likelihood of a weak interaction than a relatively lower energy neutrino because the higher energy is available and makes it more likely to form a W or Z boson?