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- xoptics, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Several of my physics professors were just over at the Large Hadron Collider a few weeks ago. They are working on finding the Higgs Boson (as explained by the article). The article doesn't explain the theoretical particle's "purpose" all too well, though.
Imagine yourself as a particle swimming underwater in a pool. If you didn't know that you were being slowed down by the friction of the water, you might think that you had gained mass by submersing yourself. But you understand that the friction is what made it harder for you to move through the water at faster speeds. Now imagine that the Higgs Boson creates a field comparable to the pool in that, when in this field, your apparent mass seems to increase. The Higgs field is theorized to give particles mass - all particles are mass-less without Higgs Bosons. They create a field in which particles can have mass.
The swimming pool metaphor is very rough, but is one of the easiest ways to understand what the Higgs Boson and its resultant field actually do. - 4Prophecy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14As long as they don't destroy the Earth in the process, I hope they find the particle.
- swOhio, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17ignore
- MadN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11They should do this on Mars.
We can have The Rock as the leader of the response team - fearofcorners, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9@YumYumKittyLoaf
The way these things are usually observed is through indirect detection. For instance, there is a theory about undetectable thing A. If we're right we should be able to observe changes in visible things B and C as they interact with A. - jboi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12I already played the game. It was called half-life, and the new dimension was pretty bad!
- supermanred, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Personally I think Higgs Boson is a dick, and if anyone sees that bastard tell him he owes me 20 bucks.
- Mousse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@YumYumKittyLoaf
There's a slight confusion. Given this hypothesis particles don't get mass by "attaching" themselves to a Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is merely a quantum (the smallest indivisible packet of energy) of the Higgs field, just like photons are a quantum of the electromagnetic field. The Higgs field itself is what xoptics was referring to analagously as a swimming pool and particles appear to have this property of resistance to change in motion that we call mass because they are in this field.
The Higgs boson is important because its discovery will imply a Higgs field. - dancpsu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Interesting. We used to have "ether" now we have a "Higgs field".
- pos3000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Why can't we all agree that the answer will inevitably be 42 and end the whole idea about theoretical physics.
- CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7the possibility of weapons beyond most government's wildest dreams
- YumYumKittyLoaf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I might sound stupid, and my reply be completely dumb, but wouldn't the only way they would find a Higgs Boson would be either if they took away everything except a Higgs Boson, or blowing everything apart so that a Higgs Boson will be captured.
Problem with that is that if it works is that wouldn't there be a Higgs Boson just flying around attached to nothing? It'd be giving mass to a vacuum.
Other than that, i'd think it would attach itself to something else giving that item extra mass. Is that the way they'll see if they exist or not?
Sorry, i'm just speculating. I'm probably utterly and completely wrong. XD - esojz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yes, what if the creation of THIS universe was immediately proceeded by the attempts of the residents of the last universe to figure out what was making it tick?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5£4.2B? That's about $8B, right?
OK, physics guys, please, PLEASE explain to me how you manage to get the powers-that-be to hand out that kind of cash for basic research?
£4.2B is, at a guesstimate, the sum total funding for all non-medical biology research in the world for ten years or so, and a couple of million times more than the funding for any specific project, like say the Barcode of Life project to DNA-barcode all species of life on the planet.
Come on, tell me your secret! - AlmostEvil, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5But, what's the question?
- theguy10, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@fearofcorners
"The way these things are usually observed is through indirect detection. For instance, there is a theory about undetectable thing A. If we're right we should be able to observe changes in visible things B and C as they interact with A."
The best way I have ever heard this explained was in "The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?" by Leon Lederman
Imagine a soccer match with an invisible ball, you can't see the ball but you can tell where it is and how it is moving by how the players interact and move around the soccer field.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to sort of understand this high-level physics stuff without a PHD in particle physics. - mistermachine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4well, even if they do blow up the universe, i'm sure it's worth the risk. after all, i don't see myself sleeping until they find this higgs-boson thingy ... i also find it interesting that god is a particle. he doesn't seem so scary now.
- mrgomel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Activate the Omega Directive!
- aerogant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is any of this, similar or related to pilot wave theory?
- listrophy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@theguy10
I haven't read that book in a good long while, but thanks for bringing up that analogy. I had forgotten about that.
And now for the meat of my post: According to Lederman, the term "god particle" has nothing to do with religion. He just named it that because the publishers wouldn't let him release a book entitled "the goddamn particle." This is a more fitting name, especially taking into account the soccer ball analogy that theguy10 brought up. - AlmostEvil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That isn't one single lump sum, it's a gradual over n amount of years sum. Which in the grand scheme of things is peanuts to what is spent on other things.
Take for example how much the USA spends annually on the military, at last check it was roughly $300-500 Billion PER YEAR.
Considering how the LHC will help advance our understanding of the universe (significantly) this is a GOOD THING. - Mulo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hope it won't be known as the "Babel-Particle"! (nervous laughter) :-
- YumYumKittyLoaf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They say that there might not be any use of it at all. I beg to differ, what if there's a way of controlling the fields as to make something incredibly dense or incredibly light weight without changing anything other than it's Mass.
We could make mass-less engines and fuel. Would be wonderfull too. - netdroid9, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Interesting, I'm surprised I haven't heard about it. It makes sense. If you can manipulate that field, you might be able to produce anti-grav boosters, or something of the sort. Sadly, I can see a huge weapons development field evolving out of this. Black hole grenades, anyone?
- mugenkeiji, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2(forgive my non-technical, blundering question)
Is the Higgs field universal and of constant strength, or is it possible to displace it? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4One of my favorite books of all time is "The God Particle" by Leon Lederman, I recommend it to all that dugg this link.
- ABadInAlbany, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@Azur2: are you slow, or just jealous? this sort of research underlies the future of all technology. this kind of research makes applied research like the Barcode of Life project possible. you can't have applied research without the basic research that precedes it.
- SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Anyone know when this is scheduled? Didn't find anything in the article.
I want to mark it on my calendar so I can be sure to party hard the day before they recreate the big bang or some black holes or something. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Quantum physics has already proven there's an Observer (or God). It's called the double slit experiment. Among other experiments.
Leading Quantum Physicist - Fred Alan Wolf
http://www.fredalanwolf.com - shovel24, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It would be interesting for string theorists if they find it. The line between matter and energy reguarding what are called "force carriers" gets rather blurred. Even electrons can be stimulated certain ways to produce entangled photons.. just like how even photons have a tiny bit of mass. The only way they could produce something that is all mass would be if they stripped it of energy entirely.. I'm tempted to think the higgs boson might just be another name for a superstring. Stories like this also make me think of that Einstein Bose condensate (a supposed fifth state of matter) that was recently discovered. One story described it as like slowing down the speed of light to 38mph or something. I guess it never hurts to challenge the status quo.
I have to admit though, I find their statements (intended obviously to challenge religious people's beliefs) that there existed properties of reality (which could be described as time and space, assuming we're not all delusional and we really do exist to ponder the question of existence... lol), before reality even existed, seems like an oxy moron. It's simple mathmatics, zero does not equal infinity. It seems like a no brainer to me. Cool science otherwise though. - zediker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3So if you could reduce or neutralize the Higgs-Boson's field, you could eliminate or reduce mass, and thus eliminate or reduce inertia as well... cool! Inertial Dampeners are physically possible =D
- Gemini25RB, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I read the title and was expecting a link to The Onion, not real science. Or hyped up science, even.
- tybris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1God's not a particle, it's a wave: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3087674.stm
- positron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Why are you all digging Greyarea down? Lexx was a great low budget comedy-scifi show. In the final season the main characters, who come from a more technologically advanced civilization in a parallel universe, stumble across our Earth and describe us as "a childish and barbaric civilization on the verge of destroying themselves in a foolish attempt to determine the Higgs Boson." (paraphrased).
- fr0gger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2This is the most ridiculous name for a particle ever.
- littlebylittle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Here, let me just explain why things have mass. It's because energy has a positive and negative polarity stupid. Matter is energy. The illusion of mass and gravity is as a result of perfectly "pulling" polarity. Energy pulls on itself just right.
- rangelife, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0CAN YOU FEEL THE BASS
- squegie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1The interesting bit is that someone's edited comment "ignore" gets 5 diggs.
- swOhio, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1As far as the black holes go, the leading scientists say that there is nothing to worry about. Damn do I hope they are right.
Speaking of physics
http://www.16pi2.com/aether_physics_model.htm
This is some crazy stuff. Apparently every aspect of physics they have test this theory against it has fit perfectly. - SebG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I just saw this on discovery, how they were building it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5Ha ha, we tricked you! :)
- coopaq, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0"the possibility of weapons beyond most government's wildest dreams"
Yeah. Imagine being shot with a god particle. ouch. - Darylicked, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I thnk they will find that the "god particle" doesnt exist as a particle, but a band of "wound energy" the water analogy is good, but imagine this: a rotational force of a particle in water would spin a "hole" in the water, like a drain in a bath tub. small, tiny partcle rotations are not going to destroy the world, they will only create small parabolic "tweaks" where they exist. This would explain gravitational force on the sub-atomic level. the nucleus, having its own "rotational force" creating a mass-ish vortex around it keeps the electrons at exact rotational locations. imagine a ping pong ball floating around a bath tub drain. This may be the begining of a universal "theory of everything". weapons? no, dementional manipulation? thats the scary part.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I am the god particle.
- Greyarea, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Heh. Lexx?
- toosas, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1stop the black holes!
- toesofrubber, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1I am the god particle, and so is my wife!
- gazotem, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1E = mc2
- igdrasa, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1I'm ready to hail our new ant overlords
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