What are Neutrinos!?

Written by Sanchit Kamat and Shlok Wala

Neutrinos are fundamental particles with minimal mass, no electric charge, and very weak interactions with other matter, allowing them to pass through virtually anything without detection. Tens of billions of neutrinos from nuclear reactions in the Sun traverse every square centimeter of Earth's surface each second. Didn't understand anything? Here's a simple explanation:

Okay, imagine you have magical, super-tiny invisible marbles called neutrinos. These marbles are so small and sneaky that they can zip straight through walls, the ground, and even you, and you’d never notice! Every second, billions of these marbles are passing through your body because they come from big fiery places, like the Sun.

Now, there are three kinds of these magical marbles: let’s call them red, blue, and yellow marbles (these are the electron, muon, and tau neutrinos). But here’s the cool part: as they zoom through space, they love to play dress-up and switch colors! A red marble might decide, “I’m going to be blue now!” or a yellow marble might turn red. Scientists call this "flavor-changing," like when you switch your favorite ice cream.

This “color-switching” helps scientists learn new secrets about how the universe works—things even the biggest rulebook of science (the "Standard Model") hasn’t fully explained yet!

Source: https://www.quantamagazine.org