Posted on 03/25/2016 6:02:21 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Massive collapsing stars radiate most of their binding energy (about 10^53 ergs) in the form of neutrinos. The rate of such collapses in our galaxy is expected to be greater, perhaps by a large factor, than the supernova rate. John Bahcall estimates a rate of about one collapse every 11 years in our galaxy. Stellar collapses might not exhibit the conspicuous optical show of full-blown supernovas but can still be potent emitters of neutrinos. According to Juan Collar, recently of the University of South Carolina but now with the University of Paris, stellar-collapse neutrinos may have played a role in biological extinctions on Earth in past eras, notwithstanding their very weak interactions with ordinary matter. Although stellar collapse parameters are poorly known, Collar has ventured to calculate the effect of a hypothetical low-dose, high- linear-energy-transfer (the energy dissipated by a radiation per unit length through a biological sample) neutrino flux on terrestrial animals; he suggests that collapse neutrinos may well cause a catastrophic level of cancerous malignancy, with ensuing large- scale loss of life, at a frequency (on the order of 100 million years) consistent with known major extinctions on Earth.
(Excerpt) Read more at physics.ncsu.edu ...
In a word? No.
Damn. You beat me to it.
‘Neutrino Bomb’ Idea Expands Debate on Human Extinction
by Malcolm W. Browne
Published: January 23, 1996
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/23/science/neutrino-bomb-idea-expands-debate-on-human-extinction.html?pagewanted=all
Couldn’t tread water for 40 days. Just say’n
Maybe gravity increased and dinosaurs could no longer survive
Bush’s fault.
Oh, the neutrinos might have roughed up the dinosaurs a little bit, but kill them?
Naw.
Break a leg maybe.
Throw them down some stairs.
OK.
But they weren’t killers.
Now, black holes? Black holes is killers. They’ll off you just for lookin’ at ‘em wrong.
Racist...
Don’t ever ever look into a black hole. If you do the dinosaurs they killed will rush out and eat you.
And you never see a black hole coming because they suck up all the light....
Trump killed the dinosaurs, except for a Triceratops he gave to son Barron for his 10th birthday as a pet. Neutrino, Schmutrino... Nonsense.
Biological Effects of Stellar Collapse Neutrinos
J. I. Collar
Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 999 Published 5 February 1996
Abstract — Massive stars in their final stages of collapse radiate most of their binding energy in the form of MeV neutrinos. The recoil atoms that they produce in elastic scattering off nuclei in organic tissue create radiation damage which is highly effective in the production of irreparable DNA harm, leading to cellular mutation, neoplasia, and oncogenesis. Using a conventional model of the galaxy and of the collapse mechanism, the periodicity of nearby stellar collapses and the radiation dose are calculated. The possible contribution of this process to the paleontological record of mass extinctions is examined.
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.999
Great.
Now I’ll get another time out.
Last time I got a time out was for writing f**k too much because I was mad that those Afghans had killed one of our Soldiers.
You can sure as hell bet I’ve cleaned up my language since then.
You’re thinking of modern neutrinos.
Way back when they had yer saber toothed neutrinos.
Now THEY were killers.
My Grandma used to say that, too.
Right before they hauled her off to the nut house.
She was never eaten by a dinosaur, though.
She died captaining a pirate ship.
John Updike
I’ll bet you’re a fizzasist.....fizzacyst.....really smart person who studies stuff like this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.