Higgs Boson For Dummies
Discussion
Am I the only one who has absolutely no idea what this is? I've had several Wikipedia pages open for an hour, and I can't really make head nor tail of it.
What is it? Why is it important? What can we do with it?
I don't like to think I'm completely stupid, I do take a passing interest in science, and can usually understand at least an outline of what people are talking about, but this one has me totally stumped.
Can anyone shed any light or post a link to a nice simple article?
What is it? Why is it important? What can we do with it?
I don't like to think I'm completely stupid, I do take a passing interest in science, and can usually understand at least an outline of what people are talking about, but this one has me totally stumped.
Can anyone shed any light or post a link to a nice simple article?
Brian Cox is fairly good
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/tv/episode/...
Start at about 32 minutes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/tv/episode/...
Start at about 32 minutes
Watched it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efLeReifW0c as BBC stuff isn't available outside the UK
"The sub particle that gives other particles substance or mass" makes some sense, but then does that mean it would be possible to have an empty atom with zero mass if not for the Higgs Boson? What was thought to be there instead?
"The sub particle that gives other particles substance or mass" makes some sense, but then does that mean it would be possible to have an empty atom with zero mass if not for the Higgs Boson? What was thought to be there instead?
PeanutHead said:
The first page didn't, sorry. I'm a level dumber than that.Very, very simplistically - E=mc^2 shows that energy and matter are 'interchangeable' and the Higgs Boson is thought to give matter the capacity to have mass and may be responsible for the formation of gravitational fields associated with matter. Manipulation of HB may be a way to get faster-than-light travel.
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