This new finding is incredible because it broadens our understanding of the universe in a big way.

The “Oh My God Particle” is one of the most humorous names I have ever heard in the field of physics. This particle is also known by scientists as the “ermahgerd particle” (just kidding). Although that isn’t its official name, it is known as the “Oh My God Particle.”  Now, the Higgs Boson, which was found in 2012, might be the first thing that comes to some of your minds.

Considering that the media referred to it as the “God Particle,” this is hardly shocking. These two particles, however, are extremely unlike. Is the Oh My God Particle, then? Well, it’s just a plain, humble proton. Why the name, then?

The effective mass-energy of this proton was equivalent to a baseball moving at 56 mph (90 km/h)! A cosmic ray is a kind of particle that is usually just a proton, but occasionally it can also be an electron or an atom of helium. The fact that they are traveling so close to the speed of light and that the Oh My God Particle is the fastest ever discovered is what makes them so fascinating.

This extremely high energy particle, which was found in Utah back in 1991, most certainly began its journey to Earth from the vicinity of the Supermassive Black Hole in the galaxy Centaurus A. We now mentioned that its speed was almost equal to that of light.

Okay, how close? With a proton’s energy level of roughly 50 joules, a 50-watt lightbulb may be momentarily illuminated. Although this may not seem like much energy, it must have traveled at an amazing pace because a single proton weights 1.67e-27 kg, or 0.167 with 26 zeroes before it.

Its computed speed is approximately 99.9999999999999999999995% of the speed of light! This indicates that it was only 1.5 quadrillionths of a meter slower than the speed of light per second. Despite possessing the mass-energy of a baseball, this particle wouldn’t render you unconscious if it struck your head while you were strolling down the street.

I hope you can now see the significance of the name, Oh My God Particle.When they calculated the speed of that one proton, the scientists that discovered this particle most likely shouted that out.