Higgs Boson Particle

[Purron]

Wow.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/s...ered-higgs-boson-particle.html?pagewanted=all

 

[grasshopper]

Now I know I am in a parallel universe.

 

[donheff]

Now I know I am in a parallel universe.

Darn, beat me to it.

 

[Tree-dweller]

May the Higgs boson be with you, Obi-wan!

 

[easysurfer]

I thought the article would talk about parallel universes or time travel, but instead the particle is compared to a bunch of groupies fawning over Justin Bieber

From the article:

"Compare Higgs bosons to groupies mobbing a celebrity. The other particles are the celebrities, desperately trying to move but slowed by autograph-seekers. Higgs bosons don't have pens, but the attention they give to the other particles slows them, creating inertia."

Physicists break down concept of 'God particle'

 

[growing_older]

It's fun and interesting to have an experimental confirmation (probably) for a theory that has been mainstream (but unconfirmed) for 50 years. But I don't see much practical benefit for the many billions of dollars spent and thousands of researchers who are in these articles described as spending decades of their lives looking for this thing. Was there nothing better that thousands of research scientists could have spend decades and billions of dollars looking at? We proved that it fits the theory we already had. So what? We've had 50 years to do something with that theory and don't have much to show for it, yet.

 

[easysurfer]

It actually is quite a find. Some compare finding the particle to the proof that gravity exists. I suppose patience is the key word. It's like if a craft is sent to mars and they find living bacteria but we were hoping for little green men .

 

[kcowan]

I think it is pretty impressive that Higgs postulated the existence of this particle 43 years ago and has finally been proven correct. It is an amazing fact.

 

[LOL!]

It actually is quite a find. Some compare finding the particle to the proof that gravity exists. I suppose patience is the key word.

Sorry, but we know gravity exists. Perhaps you meant "why gravity exists"?

It's like if a craft is sent to mars and they find living bacteria but we were hoping for little green men .

No, it is absolutely not like this at all.

As y'all know from the other thread, I am not all ga-ga over this discovery. However, I must write that some of the technology I use every day has come from the R&D paid for by these Bosonites. In that sense, I have directly benefitted from the billions spent.

And to make that beneficial to everyone reading this, I'll make a more specific statement: Some of the detector technology developed for this experiment will lead almost directly to better X-ray detectors in your hospitals and doctors' offices. One will be able to have a fraction of the X-ray dose that one gets now, but still have a much better result. And the fewer X-rays you get, the better off you are.

 

[easysurfer]

Sorry, but we know gravity exists. Perhaps you meant "why gravity exists"?


No, it is absolutely not like this at all.

As y'all know from the other thread, I am not all ga-ga over this discovery. However, I must write that some of the technology I use every day has come from the R&D paid for by these Bosonites. In that sense, I have directly benefitted from the billions spent.

And to make that beneficial to everyone reading this, I'll make a more specific statement: Some of the detector technology developed for this experiment will lead almost directly to better X-ray detectors in your hospitals and doctors' offices. One will be able to have a fraction of the X-ray dose that one gets now, but still have a much better result. And the fewer X-rays you get, the better off you are.

There once was a time people didn't know there is such a thing as gravity.

 

[LOL!]

No, they knew there was gravity, they just didn't have a name for it or a mathematical equation for it. It was taken for granted.

 

[grasshopper]

I think that this was easy to hypothesize, add the known weights of the known particles in the known number of the little spinney things. If the number that you add up is less than the weight of that atom, bingo, there must be an unknown mass. Unless gravity has weight.

I think I slept through this course.

 

[Meadbh]

I found this video helpful, though I had to play it a couple of times because the narration is so fast:

The Higgs Boson, Part I - YouTube

I think it's a very big deal, like discovering that there are electrons. If electrons led to electronics, will Bosons lead to Bosonics?

 

[growing_older]

I don't understand the fuss. It was certainly difficult to get an experimental confirmation of this theory. But nothing new was discovered here. Nothing new was added to the standard model of the universe. This massive and expensive effort did (probably) confirm the view held by 90+% of physicists. It's not a new theory. It's not a new discovery. It's an experimental confirmation. That's good, but the celebration seems excessive.

It would be interesting to understand why it was worth all the effort and expense, compared to other things that could have been researched or built with tens of thousands of top notch researchers and many billions of dollars of equipment.

 

[Dreamer]

I wish I were smarter.

 

[Purron]

I wish I were smarter.

Me 2

 

[Bikerdude]

A Higgs boson walks into a church. The priest stops the particle and says, "We don't allow your kind in here." Undeterred the particle responds: "But without me, you can't have mass."

 

[REWahoo]

<Rimshot!>

 

[Bikerdude]

A Higgs boson walks into a bar the barman asks "what's the matter?

 

[clifp]

I found this video helpful, though I had to play it a couple of times because the narration is so fast:

The Higgs Boson, Part I - YouTube

I think it's a very big deal, like discovering that there are electrons. If electrons led to electronics, will Bosons lead to Bosonics?

Man I needed that video thanks for the link.

This whole threads was bringing back nightmares of my last quarter of physics, quantum mechanics. My eyes were glazed over and I remember praying that I could some how manage to get a C. (What a comeuppance for the cocky young freshman who thought being a physics major at Berkeley would be easy..). My adviser told me that EE majors didn't need the last quarter of physics and I raced to drop the course.

Maybe if I had stuck with it I'd understand what all the excitement is about, but I doubt it.

I continue to be impressed by the forum members.

 

[ERD50]

Maybe if I had stuck with it I'd understand what all the excitement is about, but I doubt it.

I continue to be impressed by the forum members.

I only got the part where they said yeast, sugar and water make alcohol.

Heck, I even wonder about electrons. Do they really exist as they are described to us, or is that just a convenient way to explain the effects? How can we be sure? But I'm simple - the water pressure/flow analogies are good enough for me!

-ERD50

 

[Meadbh]

Heck, I even wonder about electrons. Do they really exist as they are described to us, or is that just a convenient way to explain the effects?

-ERD50

If there were no electrons, how would car batteries work?

 

[ERD50]

If there were no electrons, how would car batteries work?

Or anything electrical. I'm just saying that I don't really know enough to be able to say that 'electrons' are the one, true, accurate, actual explanation. Maybe there is some other explanation? Do physicists really care, or do they just need a model to work with?

As a parallel - I might say that my USB device 'talks' with my computer, and they 'negotiate' and 'handshake' about what power level is available. But they don't really 'talk' and 'handshake' - but as far as I'm concerned, that's good enough for me to understand what's going on, and to work with it.

Maybe, at a much, much higher level, this is all physicists do? I dunno.


-ERD50

 

[Meadbh]

I think you're over analyzing it. I will take the physicists' word for the existence of electrons, plus what I learned in school/university.

Reminds me of an oral exam I had in biochemistry. Examiner began a line of questioning about mitochondrial function. I found this subject difficult to understand so I blurted out "oh, I don't like mitochondria!" His response: "to eat?" Of course the importance of mitochondria has greatly increased since those far off days as the science of genetics has exploded.

Just because we have difficulty understanding a concept doesn't mean it's not true.

 

[ERD50]

I think you're over analyzing it. I will take the physicists' word for the existence of electrons, plus what I learned in school/university. ...

Just because we have difficulty understanding a concept doesn't mean it's not true.

Oh, I don't really doubt them. There's is just a little bit of me that wants to question it, and wonder - is that really how it 'works', could there be an alternate explanation?

-ERD50