Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
Jul 4th 2012, 12:53 am
#46
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
Someone was obvious motivated to find a particle family chart....
Jul 4th 2012, 1:03 am
#48
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
QM is more defined by this equation :
Jul 4th 2012, 2:07 am
#49
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
That would make talking about Quantum Mechanics kind of difficult - since lots of it is German; on account of most of the creators being krauts. Eigan this, Eigan that....
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/fotomon/bloxl...75a4915292.jpg
Widely regarded as the most dense a collection of brainpower, ever.
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/fotomon/bloxl...75a4915292.jpg
Widely regarded as the most dense a collection of brainpower, ever.
Jul 4th 2012, 2:09 am
#50
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
Well done Garry. Keep supporting the science over wastes of time like the 100 metres. I'm finding the entire discover really quite fascinating, and the ramifications are huge. Finding the Higgs means that steps to find clean, boundless energy are a little bit further on.
I dare say people were saying the same thing about scientists trying to crack the atom - what possible use can that have? Well now we now know it was an incredibly important discovery that has shaped the world we live in today...
S
I dare say people were saying the same thing about scientists trying to crack the atom - what possible use can that have? Well now we now know it was an incredibly important discovery that has shaped the world we live in today...
S
Jul 4th 2012, 2:10 am
#51
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
Jul 4th 2012, 2:17 am
#52
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Jul 4th 2012, 7:19 am
#53
Happy migrant
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
OK
There is something called the Standard Model(SM) in particle physics - arranges all the subatomic particles in nice families, formed of different types of quark, etc. (kind of like the Periodic Table, but not). Fields (like gravity) are mediated by 'particles', exchanged between other particles to 'transmit' the field (so gluons transmit the force of gravity, etc.) Think wave/particle duality, or snooker.
A scotsman by the name of Peter Higgs came up with a theory that mass was a field (the Higgs field) and thus in the SM a particle (the Higgs Boson) was needed to transmit that field. No Higgs Boson, no field, no mass.
Now, this experiment has confirmed the existence of a particle with the right mass (mass/energy remember) for the theory, and once they have confirmed some other characteristics, it will be confirmed as the Higgs (though everyone basically accepts it already). The precise mass of this particle helps set loads of other universal characteristics (it IS mass, after all) and so helps define how the universe works, choosing between some different options. That then feeds through to lots of other questions (will the universe collapse, how did it form, etc.)
Only the results have a wiggle in them. Maybe this is real, maybe its just noise, but wiggle potentially means 'new stuff' and thus physicists are interested. If it means a new effect has to be explained, that means new physics, the universe isn't exactly what we thought, and someone will get a Nobel.
There is something called the Standard Model(SM) in particle physics - arranges all the subatomic particles in nice families, formed of different types of quark, etc. (kind of like the Periodic Table, but not). Fields (like gravity) are mediated by 'particles', exchanged between other particles to 'transmit' the field (so gluons transmit the force of gravity, etc.) Think wave/particle duality, or snooker.
A scotsman by the name of Peter Higgs came up with a theory that mass was a field (the Higgs field) and thus in the SM a particle (the Higgs Boson) was needed to transmit that field. No Higgs Boson, no field, no mass.
Now, this experiment has confirmed the existence of a particle with the right mass (mass/energy remember) for the theory, and once they have confirmed some other characteristics, it will be confirmed as the Higgs (though everyone basically accepts it already). The precise mass of this particle helps set loads of other universal characteristics (it IS mass, after all) and so helps define how the universe works, choosing between some different options. That then feeds through to lots of other questions (will the universe collapse, how did it form, etc.)
Only the results have a wiggle in them. Maybe this is real, maybe its just noise, but wiggle potentially means 'new stuff' and thus physicists are interested. If it means a new effect has to be explained, that means new physics, the universe isn't exactly what we thought, and someone will get a Nobel.
If that's layman's terms, then Layman was obviously a physicist, but thanks anyway
Washed down with a beer. Think I'll join you
Jul 4th 2012, 9:54 am
#54
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Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
*pleads prior knowledge - my BIL, who works at Daresbury Laboratory and has been back and forth to CERN quite a lot over the last few years, keeps trying to explain what he does. We still reckon he just pushes a broom around and reads the paper in the bog.
My brother has the same trouble trying to explain genetic theory to me, I really am the thick one in the family :: sobs ::
Jul 4th 2012, 10:12 am
#55
Lost in BE Cyberspace
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Posts: 7,580
Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
It is all very interesting- even to someone like me who finds it hard to believe that there was "nothing" and then there was an explosion and the universe came into being. I was more of an opinion that before the "big bang", there was a different universe that contracted until it got so dense and tiny that a critical reaction occurred and Bang! our universe was born. If you say how will it be possible for galaxies etc that are moving away from each other to then contract, well I think that the universe is like a 3D form of a Moeibius strip so that essentially it only has one surface and it will eventually lead to everything coming together again. This has happened many times- a sort of "Steady State"- except it isn't really steady. 
I'll just shuffle off now- used to being laughed at by my OH who is a big bang believer.
Of course I am a believer in Star Trek physics too!!
many things have come into being that Star Trek had in the 60's, or they are trying to invent them.
I'll just shuffle off now- used to being laughed at by my OH who is a big bang believer.
Of course I am a believer in Star Trek physics too!!
many things have come into being that Star Trek had in the 60's, or they are trying to invent them.
Last edited by carolinephillips; Jul 4th 2012 at 10:41 am.
Jul 4th 2012, 12:33 pm
#57
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,558
Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
It is all very interesting- even to someone like me who finds it hard to believe that there was "nothing" and then there was an explosion and the universe came into being. I was more of an opinion that before the "big bang", there was a different universe that contracted until it got so dense and tiny that a critical reaction occurred and Bang! our universe was born.
http://discovermagazine.com/2004/feb/cover
If you say how will it be possible for galaxies etc that are moving away from each other to then contract, well I think that the universe is like a 3D form of a Moeibius strip so that essentially it only has one surface and it will eventually lead to everything coming together again. This has happened many times- a sort of "Steady State"- except it isn't really steady.
Jul 4th 2012, 2:46 pm
#58
Daffyd Duck
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Paradise
Posts: 5,636
Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
A Higgs boson walks into a church.
"We don't allow Higgs bosons in here!" shouts the priest.
"But without me, how can you have mass?" asks the particle.
"We don't allow Higgs bosons in here!" shouts the priest.
"But without me, how can you have mass?" asks the particle.
Jul 4th 2012, 4:12 pm
#60
snɐןɔ ʎʇıuɐs
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 6,558
Re: Higgs Boson discovered (probably), but ...
Not a bad explanation of the what, why, and how of the Higgs and CERN :
http://vimeo.com/41038445
for those who couldn't get my explanation.
http://vimeo.com/41038445
for those who couldn't get my explanation.
