Here's an excellent article, for those of you curious what the fuss is all about:
How to explain Higgs boson discovery
Everyone's talking about the 'God particle' – but what if someone asks you to explain it. Well, it depends if it's an A-level physics student or a religious fundamentalist. Just use our guide
My favourite:
For English undergraduates: "The Higgs boson (pronounced "boatswain") is a type of subatomic punctuation with a weight somewhere between a tiny semicolon and an invisible comma. Without it the universe would be a meaningless cloud of gibberish – a bit like The Da Vinci Code, if you read that."
Good work by the physics nerds. If this leads to the development of an operable warp drive in the next ten years, just so I can finally get off this fucking planet and away from all these goddamn morons, then I'm all for it.
"Thanos" said Good work by the physics nerds. If this leads to the development of an operable warp drive in the next ten years, just so I can finally get off this fucking planet and away from all these goddamn morons, then I'm all for it.
"andyt" said Why does nobody talk about the Higgs Field?
Don't the Dodgers play there?
Because if we tell people that the mass of each type of elementary particle depends on the zero energy value of the Higgs field and how strongly the partocles couple to the Higgs Field; while the mass of the Higgs boson depends on how the energy density of the Higgs field changes as the strength of the Higgs field varies. And that the mass of the Higgs boson is just the energy needed to make the Higgs field vibrate. . . their eyes glaze over and they go into a temporary coma.
I just find the concept of a ubiquitous field that has an effect on all matter easier to try to wrap my head around than particles that only exist for very brief moments. Although the ball cage analogy given in Zipp's link helped a lot too.
So if Higgs bosons have a field, what about other bosons etc - where's their field?
"Thanos" said Good work by the physics nerds. If this leads to the development of an operable warp drive in the next ten years, just so I can finally get off this fucking planet and away from all these goddamn morons, then I'm all for it.
They made no such claim, they said 'they have confident evidence of the Higgs Boson where the Standard Model predicts it should be'.
The particle itself would only exist for trillionths of a second, too short for us to detect.
The particle itself would only exist for trillionths of a second, too short for us to detect.
Not much time for a sex life.
The particle itself would only exist for trillionths of a second, too short for us to detect.
Not much time for a sex life.
Time stretches as an object approaches the speed of light. For all we know, the little Bosons experience a lifetime of particle 'interactions'.
The particle itself would only exist for trillionths of a second, too short for us to detect.
Not much time for a sex life.
Time stretches as an object approaches the speed of light. For all we know, the little Bosons experience a lifetime of particle 'interactions'.
Wonder what a baby Boson looks like.
Methinks all Bosons are gay and still hiding in the closet.
Wonder what a baby Boson looks like.
Methinks all Bosons are gay and still hiding in the closet.
So that's why they're so hard to find.
How to explain Higgs boson discovery
My favourite:
This is really a monumental achievement in particle physics.
Hey, did I just say that out loud?
- Daniel "Thanos" Plainview
Good work by the physics nerds. If this leads to the development of an operable warp drive in the next ten years, just so I can finally get off this fucking planet and away from all these goddamn morons, then I'm all for it.
So are we.
Why does nobody talk about the Higgs Field?
Don't the Dodgers play there?
Because if we tell people that the mass of each type of elementary particle depends on the zero energy value of the Higgs field and how strongly the partocles couple to the Higgs Field; while the mass of the Higgs boson depends on how the energy density of the Higgs field changes as the strength of the Higgs field varies. And that the mass of the Higgs boson is just the energy needed to make the Higgs field vibrate. . . their eyes glaze over and they go into a temporary coma.
So if Higgs bosons have a field, what about other bosons etc - where's their field?
So is there a Higgs force?
Good work by the physics nerds. If this leads to the development of an operable warp drive in the next ten years, just so I can finally get off this fucking planet and away from all these goddamn morons, then I'm all for it.
Hey, did I just say that out loud?
- Daniel "Thanos" Plainview
You don't think the morons will follow?