#OnThisDay in 1904, Pavel Cherenkov was born. He's the man who first discovered what this blue glow was surrounding a reactor core. Today it's called Cherenkov radiation — a phenomenon that happens when electrically charged particles, such as protons or electrons, travel faster than light in a clear medium like water. #nuclear #cleanenergy | U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy

Why do you see a blue glow inside of a reactor? | International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Can particles move faster than light? Nobel Prize employee Olof is here to explain more about how that's possible in Cherenkov radiation - the discovery that received the 1958 physics prize Learn more about this effect: https://bit.ly/3X4uIdB Reactor Video Credits: Sandia National Laboratories; IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication | Nobel Prize

The blue glow is called Cherenkov radiation, and it's caused by very high energy electrically charged particles, such as electrons, traveling faster than the speed of light in a medium, such as water. Think of it like a sonic boom for light. In certain mediums, the speed of light is slower, and particles can travel faster than light in that medium. For example, the speed of light in water is 225,000,000 metres per second, compared to 299,792,458 metres per second in a vacuum, or about 75% the sp